Connect Christmas

Connect wish you a very Happy Christmas and a great 2008. We look forward to working with you in what we know will be another very exciting year for our project. The Connect office will be open on Christmas Eve until 12 noon and will reopen on Wednesday January 2nd, 2008.

Rowlagh Women’s Group

The Adult Learners Festival kicks off on February 4th 2008 with a presentation ceremony for the AONTAS STAR awards. In Clondalkin, Rowlagh Women’s Group is organising an exhibition stand at Clondalkin shopping centre. Over the course of the week members of the group will be available to talk to anyone interested in their training and education activities, from arts and crafts to alternative health or even salsa dancing. Contact Bernie for more information on 01 623 0574 or oliveadmin@oceanfree.net

TALENT in Tallaght

TALENT in Tallaght will follow the success of last year with the Tallaght Adult Learners Fair on Thursday February 7th. TALENT is a network which brings together Tallaght Partnership with the VEC, Tallaght IT, the library services and Co. Council. The fair will take place at Tallaght Library and will include stands, workshops, and demos all on the theme of adult education. You will have the opportunity to try out anything from reflexology to drama. Deborah Brock in Tallaght Partnership and Maggie Ryan in Tallaght IT can be contacted for more information; they are also available to support other community groups and family learning centres to run their own events. Deborah can be reached on 01 466 4280 while you can contact Maggie on 01 404 2173.

Innovation Laboratory @ Synergy Centre

€1m has been invested in a new Innovation Laboratory at the Synergy Centre in the Institute of Technology in Tallaght. The Innovation Laboratory is being divided into two areas. One will be used for ICT, engineering and computer science, while the second will be used for laboratory science.

Synergy Centre at ITT Dublin is the innovation centre of South Dublin County, providing office space and business supports to early-stage enterprises.

Useful Links:
Silicon Republic News Story
Synergy Centre Website

LAMA Awards

Connect has been nominated for an award in the category 'Best use of external communications' in The 2008 Local Government, City & Council Awards. We are honoured to have been nominated. We communicate through our website, 2 blogs, an email newsletter & have been the subject of much press attention throughout 2007. What we love most about communication is that it is 2 way - you can comment on every post on this blog. We hope to achieve bigger & better things in 2008. As our banner above is getting cluttered with logos I thought it might be better to post the LAMA image in this post for now. And just so you know, LAMA – the local Authority Members’ Association- represents elected councillors nationwide who play a pivotal role in local government, representing their constituents in local issues, providing leadership within the community and being responsible for the provision of local services.

Ireland’s Broadband Performance

Ireland’s Broadband Performance and Policy Requirements
Source: Forfás, 13 December 2007

Broadband is important to improving productivity growth, facilitating innovation and enhancing social and cultural development. This report focuses on the key indicators of Ireland’s broadband performance and the policy issues that need to be addressed to enable Ireland to meet the broadband needs of the enterprise sector.

Download the report online: http://www.forfas.ie/

International Volunteer Day 2007

International Volunteer Day occurs annually on 5th December. It is a time when not-for-profit groups take some time out to celebrate the volunteers who give so selflessly to their services.

Volunteering in South Dublin County.
South Dublin County Volunteer Centre is proud of the contribution that volunteers make to their local communities in the South Dublin County area. The centre in South Dublin is one of the busiest in the country – showing the willingness and appetite that residents in the County have for giving back to their community. The centre serves the areas covered by the South Dublin County Local Authority.

For Further Details Contact:
Tricia Nolan
518 Main Street,
Tallaght Dublin 24,
Ireland
Phone: 01 462 8558
Email: info@volunteersouthdublin.ie
Website: www.volunteersouthdublin.ie

...recruiting, placing and supporting volunteers in South Dublin County...

Lucan Model Car Club - Christmas Event

Lucan Model Car Club are holding a special Christmas event on Friday 28th December from 10 am to 5 pm at the Mill Community Centre in Celbridge. Drivers from different parts of Ireland will be taking part. The public are welcome to come along and see the top drivers racing. Admission free.
Further details from Brendan on the Club's Connect Website:
www.lucanmodelcarclub.com

Microsoft comes to Grange Castle Business Park

South Dublin County Council in conjunction with the IDA has secured a highly significant strategic investment for the County with the announcement that Microsoft Inc. is to locate their new European, Middle Eastern and Asia Data Centre in Grange Castle Business Park. This is the first time that Microsoft will build a data centre outside of the United States and the selection of Grange Castle as the location elevates the profile of the Business Park in terms of the attractiveness of South Dublin County as the key place to conduct your business.

City Channel @ Connect School

Local TV station City Channel have been filming in St. Aidan's Connect School this week. Thanks to all the students, management & staff for taking part. We hope to post the completed video on this blog once we get a copy.

Launch of South Dublin County Social Inclusion Week 2007

Mayor Billy Gogarty in the presence of Minister for Integration Conor Lenihan, TD will officially launch South Dublin County Social Inclusion Week on Monday 19th November at 12.00 in South Dublin County Council Headquarters.

Full Programme of Events

Chambers Ireland’s Excellence in Local Government Awards 2007

We are pleased to announce that South dublin County Council's Sports Flexibility Programme was successful in the Sports and Recreation category of the Chambers Ireland’s Excellence in Local Government Awards 2007. The Awards ceremony was held on Thursday 8th November in the Burlington Hotel. The Sports Flexibility Programme is a joint venture between South Dublin County Council and FAS which is aimed at early school leavers who are sports minded people and wish to pursue a career in that field.

The Council was also short-listed in the following categories:
* Outstanding Customer Service for the Libraries e-Books Service
* Environmental Initiative for the Green Building, Vesey Park, Lucan
* Partnership with Business for the Grange Affordable Housing Initiative project
* Technology for the Connect – Communities on-line project and
* Local Government of the year

The Connected Life

Ireland's Technology News Service, Silicon Republic has posted an article on it's website about Connect. Gordon smith writes: 'South Dublin County Council’s (SDCC) Connect project aims to help citizens use technology to improve their quality of life, providing easily accessible and relevant local information through the internet.'
Read the full article here

Citizens Information

CitizensInformation.ie now have a section on their site called 'Voluntary and Community Sector News'. This will be updated regularly & will provide News for the Voluntary and Community Sector on upcoming events, funding and grant availability, training courses and calls for submissions.

Participation: A Tool for Integration? - Conference

1 Day National Conference
TITLE: Participation: A Tool for Integration? Models, Strategies and Practices of Immigrants Participation and Integration in Local Communities
Date: Wednesday 28th November 2007
Venue: Shannon Suite, Tower Hotel, N81 Whitestown Road, Tallaght, Dublin 24

Conference is the culmination of the 1 year EU INTI Research Action Project – ‘Integration through Participation – sharing best practices in 5 European contexts’. Event will feature high profile presentations from speakers across the country and international experts.

For Further information contact:
clement.esebamen@tallpart.com 01-4664242

Microsoft in Grange Castle Business Park

Microsoft has shown its confidence in the Irish economy & South Dublin County as it announced that it will locate its new European data centre in Grange Castle Business Park.

The company - the world's largest software firm - will invest $500m in the new plant. About 10 to 15 new jobs will be generated when the 51,000 square foot plant is up and running by summer 2009.

With the growth of audio and video applications, social websites, mobile devices and other internet demands, data centres are becoming more and more important as companies strive to increase online computing support centres to provide users with enhanced web services, a statement from the company said.
Full story on RTE.ie

Have your Say! Connect.

You can now comment on any item on this Connect Blog. Underneath each item you can click on comments and submit your thoughts. We will then share them with other visitors to the blog. Have your Say! Connect with your community.

New Permanent Southbound Off-ramp @ N7/Red Cow Interchange Open

New Permanent Southbound Off-ramp at N7/Red Cow Interchange now open.

Since Saturday 3rd November, traffic traveling Southbound on the M50 and exiting at the N7/Red Cow Interchange to go south is directed on to the new permanent Southbound Off-ramp for the N7.

This brings to an end the movement where this traffic had to travel to Ballymount and do a U-turn. This movement has now ceased.

The final permanent layout at Ballymount Junction is scheduled to be in place in late November. Drivers on the M50 are asked to slow down and follow the traffic signs in place. For further information, please contact Mary Murphy 087 2336415.

He invented the World Wide Web

A graduate of Oxford University, England, Tim Berners-Lee holds the 3Com Founders chair and is a Senior Research Scientist at the Laboratory for Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence (CSAIL) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He directs the World Wide Web Consortium, founded in 1994.

In 1989 he invented the World Wide Web, an internet-based hypermedia initiative for global information sharing while at CERN, the European Particle Physics Laboratory.

In 2004 he was knighted by H.M. Queen Elizabeth. He is the author of "Weaving the Web". On 21st September 2007 he delivered a video presentation (see below) entitled 'The Future of the World Wide Web' at the 4th Ministerial eGovernment Conference entitled “Reaping the Benefits of eGovernment” in Lisbon, Portugal. Connect were invited to attend as Award Nominees.

What will we do next?

South Dublin Community Services Department held the 1st National Play Day at Griffeen Park Lucan in summer 2006. Activities included street games, messy play, tug-of-war, pillow fights, creative play, art, dance, music and much more.

The purpose of the day was to promote active play in children using traditional Irish games while also encouraging parents to play with their children using low cost materials. A direct result of National Play Day was the collaboration between Community Services and Libraries to produce the Council's 1st play publication of games, entitled 'What will we do next?'.

To access the book go to www.southdublinlibraries.ie

Connect Newsletter - Issue 3 October/November 2007

The latest Connect Newsletter - Issue 3 October/November 2007 - has just been sent today. If it did not arrive in your email inbox & you want to subscribe just send us an email to connect@sdublincoco.ie with 'Subscribe' in the subject line & we will add you to our mailing list.

Connect Web Training

We are currently scheduling a string of Connect Web Training dates throughout the month of November. Participants will be notified of the dates/locations shortly. We have been getting a huge response from Community Groups to this training. Well done to all who participated throughout 2007.

See Something! Say Something!

See Something! Say Something! a message from the Environmental Protection Agency, working with you to protect Ireland’s environment. If you are out and about and you see evidence of illegal dumping or burning of waste, phone the number below and help us catch those responsible....Phone: 1850 365 121

Advertisements, Events, Press Releases

Just thought we should point out that the latest Advertisements, Events & Press Releases from South Dublin County Council are now displayed on the right hand side of this page. Hope you find this useful.

Happy Halloween

Connect wish you a spook free Halloween.

Connect School Training Day

Members of the Connect project team were helping out in St. Aidans Connect School today as the first In-Service of the 07/08 Academic Year took place in conjunction with project partners the Dublin West Education Centre. We're continuing with our Peer-to-Peer learning approach and the Core Group conducted ten engaging Workshops throughout the day covering areas such as a Moodle Crash Course for new staff, Moodle Revision, PC Maintenance, Hot Potatoes Quizzes, Smartboards and School Administration. Thanks to all who participated to make the day a success.

Free Internet Access Continues...

While the County Library is closed for refurbishment, free Internet access continues to be available a short distance from the library at the concourse of County Hall. The service is available Monday to Thursday from 9.45am to 8.00pm and on Fridays and Saturdays from 9.45am to 4.30pm. If you wish to book a session, please ring 4620073 during the above hours.

Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Publisher, etc) is also available on the PCs as is a printing service. A self-service photocopying service is also available at this location. Come on in...............we'd love to see you.

Hallowfest 2007

Following the success of Hallowfest 2006, South Dublin County Tourism bring you Hallowfest 2007 - A Magical Celebration in South Dublin County on Sunday the 28th & Monday 29th of October 2007. There are lots of great FREE events for all the family. For full details of the events visit: www.hallowfest.ie

All About Energy

Everything you ever wanted to know about alternative fuels, recycling, technologies and energy-related products and services, is contained in a new website dedicated to increasing energy efficiency and awareness which has gone live. AllAboutEnergy.ie, is a one-stop resource site and portal to help homeowners, apartment dwellers, business owners, managers of public buildings and developers to keep up to date with changing developments in all areas relating to energy.

Green website aims to cut carbon footprint

Everything you ever wanted to know about alternative fuels, recycling, technologies and energy-related products and services, is contained in a new website dedicated to increasing energy efficiency and awareness which has gone live. Read More

Dublin Bus Community Support Programme

This year 242 local organisations, schools, charities and sports projects in the greater Dublin Area benefited from the Dublin Bus Community Support Programme. With the programme set to run again in 2008, more groups will benefit. Application forms for 2008 will be available to download from Dublin Bus Webpage from February 2008.

And the Awards for 2007 go to ...List of Community Support Programme Recipients 2007

RTE People in Need Telethon '07

There are already several events organised in South Dublin County as part of the RTE People in Need Telethon '07 which takes place on Friday October 26th. Why not register your event or take a look at what will be happening in your area.

BT Inspired IT Awards Shortlist 2007

Connect has been shortlisted in the Inspired IT Awards 2007 in the Business Services category. We are in good company alongside A&L Goodbody (Interwoven),IT Resources (Business One), AIB (iBusiness Banking), Laois County Council (Website Redevelopment) Sherling & Sons (ERP), ESB (Certificate Interface System)& RTE (General Election 2007).
Award winners will be announced at the National final which will be held on October 25th 2007. Minister of State Michael Aherne T.D. with special responsibility for Innovation Policy at the Department of Enterprise Trade and Employment and the Department of Education and Science will present the Award Winners on the night.

Local Activities

For lots of local activities check out the 'Things to Do' section of South Dublin County Tourism's website:
http://www.visitsouthdublincounty.ie/thingstodo.asp

Registering the World - Dublin Castle

The Connect Team are hosting a stand at the Property Registration Authority's 3 day conference in Dublin Castle. The conference was opened on Wednesday 26th September, by Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Mr Brian Lenihan, TD. Over 150 delegates are in attendance at the conference and stands represented at the conference include Ordance Survey Ireland (OSI), Land Direct (PRAI), Geo Directory and The European Land Information Service (EULIS).

French 'Social Impact & Cohesion' Category Winner

Congratulations to the winner of the 'Social Impact & Cohesion' category in The 4th Ministerial eGovernment Conference Awards - Besancon from France. Find out more about this best practice eGovernment Project here

Minister Roche visits Connect Stand in Lisbon

Minister for European Affairs, Dick Roche, T.D., is attending the Ministerial Conference and visited our Connect Exhibition Stand earlier today to wish us well at the ceremony. Pictured is Minister Roche with members of the Connect team at our stand. He also visited the other Irish Exhibitors, Donegal County Council and the Property Registration Office, and commended us all on our Exhibitions.

Connect @ EU eGovernment Conference Lisbon

Connect have arrived in Lisbon - a fabulous City of amazing architecture & public space - & set up our Exhibition at the 4th Ministerial eGovernment Conference. The judges have visited our Stand & interviewed us to assess our project ahead of the Awards Ceremony tomorrow evening.

All projects shortlisted are exhibiting at the Conference & it is an excellent opportunity for us to network. The competition standard is very high - there are 7 entries in our category (Social Impact and Cohesion). All 52 exhibitors are developing eGovernment projects & so the spectrum is even broader in terms of our potential learning. The Conference runs until Friday 21st Sept so check back here for further updates.

Synergy Centre at ITT Dublin

Synergy Centre is the innovation centre of South Dublin County, providing office space and business supports to early-stage enterprises. Focus is on the high technology & knowledge intensive sectors.

New School Opens in Adamstown

Wednesday the 5th of September marked a new day in the community of Adamstown with the opening of the first primary school. Read More

Hallowfest 2007

Hallowfest 2007 is the second year of this event that will celebrate the tradition of Halloween as an event for all the family in Tallaght, South Dublin County. This event will take place on over two days on Sunday 28th & Monday the 29th of October 2007.

Check out the South Dublin Tourism Website for further information.

In the spotlight: South Dublin County Council

South Dublin County Council is using developments in ICT to help its 260,000 residents get the information they need faster.
Read More

Farmers Market

South Dublin County Council’s Farmer’s Market takes place on the High Street, Tallaght every Friday and Saturday from 10am to 4pm. Currently, there are over 20 stalls in place providing everything from fruit & vegetables, organic meats, breads, organic hampers, coffee and teas, jewellery and crafts, fresh fish etc.

The market is located at the western end of the High Street, in a pedestrian area adjacent to the Abberley Court Hotel.

Culture Night Dublin 2007

We salute Culture Night Dublin 2007 which takes place on Friday the 14th of September with free late night culture for all the family! Over 80 of the city’s museums, galleries, theatres,libraries, historic houses, cathedrals, artists' studios and cultural centres will bring you a night of entertainment, discovery and adventure. Find out more

Clondalkin Partnership Intercultural Celebration

Clondalkin Partnership will be hosting its fourth annual Intercultural Celebration this year on Saturday 15th of September at the Dublin City Service Sports and Leisure Club, the “Coldcut Club” in Clondalkin.

You can check out further information on the Clondalkin Partnership Website.

Clonburris SDZ Video

Clonburris will be an exemplar of best practice in sustainable development, place-making and urban design. It will realise the full potential of its high accessibility by public transport, its canal-side location, and its critical mass. This will be a new eco-district that will set new standards for environmental urban expansion and act as a focus for new mixed-use development in the Greater Dublin Area.

South Dublin County Council has prepared a Plan for the development of the lands at Clonburris near Clondalkin. The proposed Plan comprises both a Strategic Development Zone Planning Scheme and a Local Area Plan. The boundary of the Plan area can be viewed here. A Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) has been prepared in respect of the proposed Plan.

For further information check out www.clonburris.ie

Have your say on the Naas Road Gateway...

South Dublin County Council is carrying out public consultation over the coming month concerning the Naas Road Gateway Urban Design Masterplan.

Positive Ageing Week 2007

Positive Ageing Week 2007 - Celebrating Positive Ageing in Ireland will run from Friday 28th September to Saturday 6th October 2007. For further information visit the Age Action Ireland website

Clondalkin Partnership Community Service Programme

Clondalkin Partnership is inviting expressions of interest for Community Service Programme strands:
* Supervising Community Halls and Facilities in disadvantaged areas.
Maximum support available euro 45,000 pa
* Community Media
It is advised that in order to succeed in attracting support under this strand the applicant group should be in possession of a broadcasting licence
* Services and enterprises which support or employ members of the Traveller community.
Clondalkin Partnership are inviting applicants from the South Dublin County area west of the Naas Road including, Clondalkin, Lucan, Newcastle and Palmerstown.ect.
Expressions of interest, including a short description of the proposed project, the applicant body and the services to be provided under this application, should be submitted to Clondalkin Partnership, Unit D, Nangor Road Business Park, Nangor Road, Clondalkin, Dublin 22. Tel: 01 4508788.
Closing date for submissions on or before Monday 1st of October.
For details of Application Criteria see www.pobal.ie

EU Commission plans to half the digital divide by 2010

Efforts to bridge the digital divide in Europe got a boost last Friday as the European Commission proposed a long-term e-skills agenda.
The Commission is aiming to half the digital divide by 2010. Currently nearly 40pc of people in the EU are digitally illiterate and only 10pc of Europeans undertake lifelong learning.
Read more here

EGovernment Awards - Lisbon

Registration for online voting in the EU EGovernment Awards to be held in Lisbon 19th-21st September 2007 has now closed. If you are registered you still have a chance to vote for the Connect Project.
Thank you to everyone who registered and voted for us.

Property Registration Authority - Dublin Castle Conference

We have been invited to exhibit at the Property Registration Authority conference at Dublin Castle from 26th-28th September.The conference is part of the Tercentenary celebrations of the Registry of Deeds which was established in 1707 and its purpose is to bring together and showcase new developments in the field of land registration and administration. The target audience is mainly officials working in land registration/administration organisations from Ireland and internationally.

The conference will open at 9.15 am on Wednesday 26th September and closes at lunchtime on 28th September.
View Property Registration Authority Website

New Bus Route Connects Adamstown

Dublin Bus has commenced a new bus service (Route 151) which serves Adamstown and the new Adamstown Railway Station. More Info here: http://www.adamstown.ie/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=229&Itemid=2

Vote for Connect!

Connect has been selected as finalist in the European eGovernment Awards 2007
along with 52 other projects across Europe. There is an Online Public Vote for the Most Inspiring Case as voted for by registered members of the ePractice.eu portal site. We need your vote!!

In order to vote, you must:
Be a registered member of ePractice.eu before 7 September 2007. Please Register here:
http://www.epractice.eu/register

Have the following areas of your profile completed:
o Personal data – all required fields.
o Contact data – organization or personal contact.
o Professional profile – Short Bio, Languages. This is where you will be asked to vote for your 3 Most Inspiring Cases.

You will find all cases shortlisted from the full list here:
The link for the Connect project is http://www.epractice.eu/cases/connect

The voting period ends on 20 September 2007 at 16:00 (Lisbon time). We really appreciate your support.

Templeogue Active Retirement Website

Congratulations to Templeogue Active Retirement Association on getting their new domain name up & running. Some very active members having been getting to grips with the internet & digital cameras throughout summer 2007 & have now launched www.templeogueara.com
The Connect Team wishes you every success in your digital adventures! Well done to Donal & all the members for your enthusiasm & dedication.

Location Based Services

Just read an article on www.siliconrepublic.com by Colm Butler, Director of Information Society Policy, Department of the Taoiseach. He tells us that The Department of Environment and Local Government is working with other spatial data creators with a view to coming up with a spatial data strategy.

Colm also mentions how it would be great 'if you could do a search on an area where you might be thinking of setting up home or a business and check out all the facts about the location — from environmental conditions to industrial activities, to demographics and hot spots of activities like sport' (WiFi access etc.) Connect have launched a free service in South Dublin
County where you can do these data searches & more. You can explore the local area in which you live or work. It's called Connect Me. Check it out here: www.sdublincoco.ie/localview/

Colm also expalins 'From a public policy perspective, the availability of that type of joined-up information is proving to be a great advantage in many countries for policy makers, politicians and citizens — and is reshaping the relationships between all three as the quality of location-specific knowledge and connected insights informs discussion and debate on policy options.

Spatial information is relevant in many applications from the basic land registration and management, infrastructure, health monitoring, socio-economic planning, monitoring the environment, statistical analyses, conservation and development and natural resource management. And in the era of evidence-assisted policy-making, the availability of spatially relevant information is extremely useful. It is an area where we can expect to see further developments over the next few years. '

'To get a closer look at the issues around spatial data infrastructures, I would recommend the Spatial Data Cookbook, available in PDF for free from http://geonetwork-opensource.org. It gives a very comprehensive picture of the requirements for a spatial data infrastructure, with good case studies on where spatial information has improved the quality of information and public service responses at local, regional, national and global levels.'

I promise to provide some introductory information on Spatial data shortly. I know that some of this language can be overly packed with technical words. I will get back to you on that one!

24 Community Centres Online

Thanks to some on going collaborative efforts between Connect, Community Services & the Community Centres across South Dublin County there are now about 24 new websites live for our local Community Centres. We hope to get the remaining 13 or so up and running in the coming months.

You can check them out here under 'Community Centres': http://connect.southdublin.ie/connect/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=128

We are looking forward to expanding the content on each this year & beyond but we are happy that we have established an online presence for each so far. Thanks to Dee in the Connect office for all here work on these sites to date & to all our Community Workers who gathered all the useful content.

What is GIS?

A GIS (Geographic Information System) is a system that links geographic information (where things are) with descriptive information (what things are). Unlike a flat paper map, where "what you see is what you get," a GIS can present many layers of different information.

In simple terms, a user could search such a system based on their location & retrieve information based on where they live (or plan to live), work, study, travel etc.

Connect Me is a good example of a GIS system. I can input my address (or pick a point on the map) & then click 'Find my Nearest' & the system will search a big database & return results based on location. It can then tell me where my nearest bank, doctor, creche, community centre is located and show it to me on a map. Sounds good? Check it out here: www.sdublincoco.ie/localview/

Community Blogging!

I would definitely encourage all Community & Voluntary Groups to set up and get used to updating a Blog, there are lots of great sites out there to help you get started & it's much easier than maintaining a website (in my humble opinion!). For those of you who are just getting started with all this technology stuff, a blog is just like a diary that you share with the world so it can be a great and immediate way to communicate. We all love immediacy these days! Go to www.google.ie and search for 'Blog' or visit www.blogger.com to get started now. Go for it! Of course if you live or work in South Dublin County and need help figuring it out email us at connectsupport@sdublincoco.ie and we will try to help.

Connect School Video

Connect School is working with the teachers & staff in St Aidan’s Community School, Brookfield in West Tallaght to develop student centred technology.