South Dublin County Council has given a commitment in the 2021 Annual Service Delivery Plan to holding the next edition of €300k Have Your Say this year.
Last year’s event was postponed due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and was due to be held in Tallaght Central. The Council are investigating ways to hold the event online and will be releasing more information on this later this year. The 2021 edition will see Tallaght Central get their chance to decide on exciting projects for their area.
€300K Have Your Say is a local democratic process, which facilitates citizens in a local community to directly decide how to spend a portion of the public budget in their area. It gives people the direct power to determine how to spend up to €300,000 to improve their community by asking them to suggest projects and then vote on which ones they would like to see funded through a public ballot.
In 2017, South Dublin County Council became the first local authority in the state to adopt participatory budgeting through its pilot programme in the Lucan Electoral Area. This was followed up with the 2018 version in Clondalkin and in 2019 with Firhouse Bohernabreena, €300k Have Your Say was also shortlisted at the Europe wide ‘Innovation in Politics’ award ceremony in Vienna, Austria in 2018.
Pic Credit: Ben Ryan
