COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, October 13, 2014

QUESTION NO. 31

QUESTION: Councillor L. O'Toole

To ask the Chief Executive to examine ways to improve the Public Consultation Process including better use of social media and examine ways to simplify the Public Consultation Process and to ensure better connections with local community organisations/groups?

REPLY:

The Council recognises that good communication between the local authority and the local community contributes greatly to the development of a vibrant local government system. In promoting good communication, the Council uses a variety of mechanisms including:

• Elected Members, as the individuals who are democratically elected by the local community, they play an essential role in providing feedback on council initiatives, polices and plans directly from the local community
• Strategic Policy Committees (SPCs) facilitate the participation of various interest groups in the local government policy making process
• Local Community Development Committee ( LCDC ) 
• Public Participation Network ( PPN) 
• Comhaire Na nOg ( Youth Council) 
• Public Advertisements in Local and National press 
• Advertising Campaigns 
• Council website www.sdcc.ie 
• E-consultation 
• E-surveys 
• Social Media- Facebook, Twitter and Youtube 
• Exhibitions and displays in Civic Buildings, Library and Community Centre Networks 
• Public Meetings 
• Press Releases

Statutory/Non statutory consultation procedures exist for many types of projects i.e. capital schemes, new plans, polices and byelaws. The Council frequently goes beyond the minimum levels of consultation required and actively promotes any processes that are underway through traditional and non traditional means.

The Council actively seeks to encourage greater engagement and increase the numbers of citizens who participate in both statutory/non statutory consultation processes and avails of opportunities to modernise and innovate in our communications methods where possible. The recently initiated process for Review of the County Development plan is an example (see below) of the variety of methods and innovations that can be applied to a major consultation process.

South Dublin County Council is shortly commencing the development of an External Communications and Marketing Plan. As part of this process the plan will include a review of engagement and consultation processes across the organisation to ensure that information is relevant, jargon free and accessible, improve mechanisms for communicating with the public and feedback to participants on how their contributions fed into decisions taken by the council.

Public consultation and engagement play an important role in promoting the ownership of public services and the modernisation and exploration of innovative new ways of engaging with the community to keep in touch with the needs of citizens will be key our approach to communications.

County Development Plan Review Process - – Pre Draft Public Consultation

The success of the next County Development Plan depends on the active participation of citizens, groups and bodies that are engaged in South Dublin County. In order to facilitate a collaborative review process, information is being provided in an accessible and engaging way with many opportunities for all citizens to engage and to input into the Plan making process.

• A dedicated web site has been developed to act as a ‘hub’ for information during all phases of the review process.
• An online submissions system has been created to simplify and streamline the submissions process.
• Information videos have been created to promote and represent the County and the Development Plan.
• A pre-draft consultation booklet “A Vision for South Dublin’s Future” has been published through booklet and online formats.
• Evening (5pm – 8pm) public information sessions are being hosted at 5 venues throughout the County during September and October.
• Workshops have been arranged with community groups aimed at structuring discussion with a cross-section of the community regarding the key themes of the County Development Plan.
• A high level stakeholder workshop will be held in October, the purpose of which is to facilitate a cross sector discussion in relation to the medium to long term future of South Dublin County
• While the requirements of the statutory process are clearly defined, all stages of the process and events related to it will be promoted through national and local press and social media outlets of the Council