Mayor of South Dublin County Council (SDCC), Cllr Vicki Casserly, officially launched the ‘€300K – Have Your Say’ initiative for the Firhouse – Bohernabreena electoral area at the Firhouse Community Centre. An amount of €300,000 has been allocated for the electoral area, which takes in Firhouse, Knocklyon, Ballycullen, Bohernabreena and Edmondstown. €300k Have Your Say’ is a participatory budgeting initiative which has been run by SDCC since 2017. Have Your Say allows residents to develop project ideas for their local area and then vote on shortlisted proposals in order to fund winning projects up to the value of €300,000.
Participatory budgeting is an innovative democratic process that began in Brazil in 1989 which facilitates citizens in a local community to decide how to spend a portion of a public budget in their area. It gives people direct power to determine spending priorities and to improve their community. SDCC were the first local authority in the country to introduce participatory budgeting to their area when the Council launched €300k Have Your Say in 2017. SDCC has previously won a Chambers Ireland award in Citizen Engagement for the initiative and been shortlisted for a European Innovation in Politics award in the ‘Democracy’ category.
Submissions are now open on https://haveyoursay.
Speaking at the launch, Mayor Casserly said, “This initiative is about enabling people to have a greater voice on local priorities. We want to give local people the opportunity to vote on investment in their area, to shape the services they use and address the issues that are important to them in their community. I am delighted to be able to offer our citizens the opportunity to get involved and have a say in how this extra funding can be used to benefit them and their communities.”
Pictured: Cllr Guss O’Connell, Cllr Alan Edge, Cllr Brian Lawlor, Cllr Emma Murphy, Cllr Vicki Casserly (Mayor of South Dublin County Council), Cllr Francis Duffy, Lorna Maxwell (Director of Services, South Dublin County Council) and Cllr Deirdre Donovan at the 300K Have Your Say Launch in Firhouse Community Centre.
