Members Spotlight

The Dublin City PPN in the National Botanic Gardens

Ruth Powel and Beatriz Cintas Cantarero of the Dublin City PPN explain what a Public Participation Network is, how it works, how it benefits the local community, and how you can get involved.

The Dublin City PPN is the main link through which Dublin City Council connects with community and voluntary, social inclusion and environmental groups. The PPN will provide groups with:

Opportunities to influence decision making
Access to information – on finance, consultations, developments
Training
Opportunities to network with other groups
Community representation and organised engagement with Dublin City Council

The PPN has made a number of videos of some of our member organisations which showcase what they do and how their organisation benefits from being a PPN member.

White Cane Audio Theatre

Sightless Cinema is audio theatre or radio drama devised by blind and visually impaired people with theatre deviser Ciarán Taylor. Sightless Cinema is presented with surround sound in cinemas, but with no pictures. Blind and sighted audiences share an experience without need for mediation.

Ciarán gives a behind the scenes tour of the history of the Theatre, how the audio productions are made, and how they are presented. He also talks about their recent productions and what they’re working on next.

Some of the cast tell how they became involved in the Theatre, their experiences, and the types of productions they worked on.

https://soundcloud.com/user-758416450

Voice of Vision Impairment

The VVI is Ireland’s national representative organisation for visually impaired people, specifically focusing on our rights and needs from a visually impaired perspective. In this, we are part of a wider movement of what are known as Disabled Persons Organisations (DPOs).

All VVI members and representatives have a visual impairment, and since we are not a service-provider, we use our expertise to represent the interests and needs of all visually impaired service-users.

We also very much welcome members who have other impairments as well as being partially sighted or blind, and our policies are very much influenced by the particular needs arising from combinations of visual impairment with other impairments.

https://vvi.ie/

Seniorline Third Age

SeniorLine is a confidential listening service for older people provided by trained older volunteers and managed by Third Age Ireland.

Our lines are open every day from 10am to 10pm, 365 days a year, including Christmas Day, St Stephen’s Day and New Year’s Day. Seniorline remains open when many statutory services are closed, and is recognised as a primary health care service helping to support older people in their community. Freephone 1800 80 45 91.

As well as responding to individual callers, Seniorline advocates nationally for older people in Ireland, representing their needs, concerns and wishes to media, the general public, politicians and key stakeholders.

We meet Damian Leneghan and Anne Dempsey who talk about the organisation and how they overcame the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic.

https://www.thirdageireland.ie/seniorline/