This article is from page 22 of the 2009-09-22 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 22 JPG
CLARE County Council has con- firmed it was awaiting approval from the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government to carry out a wide range of accessibil- ity works in 17 towns and villages throughout the county.
Finance totalling €371,000 has been allocated for the proposed works under the Disability Strategy Funding for 2009.
The prioritised works awaiting ap- proval were identified as part of a countywide accessibility audit of all
public buildings, facilities and amen- ities owned or controlled by Clare Local Authorities.
An integral part of the audit proc- ess was the consultation through workshops and at local level with the various stakeholders – people with disabilities, disability groups, carers of people with disabilities and the elderly.
According to Mayor of Clare, Councillor Tony Mulcahy, “I warmly welcome the fact that the proposed works are spread throughout the county and include the provision of drop kerbing and tactile paving in
seventeen different towns and vil- lages.
‘Elsewhere, improvements will be made to disabled car parking facili- ties at Drumcliffe Graveyard, and at Lahinch and Killaloe where the works will be carried out by Clare County Council staff,”
Mayor Mulcahy added, “I also wel- come proposals to expand the audio stock, DVDs and number of large print books for use through the lh- brary service, which continues to be a vital resource to the people of CET rome
Commenting on the scheduled
works, Mr Tom King, Chairman of Disabled People of Clare, Chairper- son of the National Policy for the Centre of Independent Living, and National Director of People With Disabilities in Ireland said, “It is reassuring to learn that despite the current economic climate all fund- ing allocated to Clare under the Dis- ability Strategy Funding in 2009 will be spent on accessibility measures in the county.
“T am also delighted that the works included in the proposals awaiting Government approval have been ex- tracted from priority measures iden-
tified in the access audit.”
Mr King continued, “Especially in view of the difficult economic circumstances, I fully support and welcome the use of the council’s own staff to execute the proposed works.
Mr King said, “In addition to assist- ing with maintaining local employ- ment, the execution of these works will also provide training in terms of accessibility works and serve to in- crease awareness of the principal of universal accessibility and the obliga- tion on service providers to meet the needs of those living and visiting our feta ae