Members of Wexford Co. Council, which won the ‘Council of the Year’ Award, pictured at the LAMA Community and Council Awards 2106, held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Santry, Dublin. Pic: Paul Sherwood
THERE WAS national recognition for Wexford Co. Council recently when it picked up the ‘Council of the Year’ at the 2016 Community and Council Awards, presented by LAMA and IPB Insurance.
The awards, which were held in Dublin, recognise projects and developments that may otherwise go unrecognised by celebrating excellence in service delivery at local, county and national level, rewarding local authorities, individuals, initiatives and private companies for their outstanding contributions and projects of benefit to the community.
The ‘Council of the Year’ award recognises local authorities that go above and beyond for the people of the community, and is generally awarded to councils that have developed and continute to develop a range of innovative projects and initiatives which improve and enhance the social, environmental, cultural and economic aspects of community lives.
Wexford County Council’s winning submission highlighted the extensive and innovative work being done by the Council in integrating Access and Accessibility issues into every aspect of its services. Wexford beat off stiff completion from Fingal and Mayo Co. Councils who were also nominated in the category.
Chairman of Wexford County Council, Councillor Tony Dempsey spoke of his delight and pride, following Wexford County Council achievement in winning the coveted accolade: “This Award is a wonderful recognition of the ongoing efforts of the Council to deliver our extensive range of services to the entire community in the most accessible, sustainable, and inclusive manner possible.”
Caroline Horan is Access Officer with Wexford County Council. She remarked:“The achievement of this award is not simply the recognition of a ‘once–off’ event but instead is the result of a focussed seven-year programme by the Council to bring accessibility to the fore across our entire range of services, a programme that presents Wexford as a Model County for Accessibility.”
Chief Executive Tom Enright paid tribute to all staff involved in bring the title of Council of the Year to Wexford, describing the achievement as “a fitting recognition of the Council’s consistent and focussed efforts to provide the best possible service to the entire community of County Wexford.”
Among Wexford Co. Council’s recent initiatives have been the provision of Beach Wheelchairs and the promotion of accessible gardens, parks and community spaces. Recently the Council has introduced the Browsealoud initiative, a web based app which improves accessibility to the Council’s website for those with varying degrees of learning abilities, language differences and literacy skills.
