Fed Notes W/E March 19 2011

Mayor of Waterford Clr Mary Roche who welcomed ICA delegates to Reg Council Meeting in Waterford March 12 2011

ICA members L Eilís Couch,Tramore & Anne Gabbett LimkFed Pres on duty at Regional ICA Conference in Waterford Mar 2011

Summary of

Address by National ICA President Anne Maria Dennison

At ICA Regional Conference, Tower Hotel, Waterford

Saturday March 12 2011

‘Reinventing and rebuilding Ireland - getting to the heart of the matter’
 

  ‘Through good times and bad the ICA has been in a position to combine two ingredients vital to our society --- stability and creativity. Stability is not about keeping things as they were – it is a about creating the calm environment in which we can get on with our lives with enough security to allow us also to be creative.
In the ICA centenary year of 2010 the organisation’s history was foremost in our minds. Members were aware of the constant flow of creative initiatives which marked the ICA out as always capable of finding better ways to make people’s lives more meaningful, more comfortable, and more hopeful. In those years since 1910 women were the leaders and members of the ICA just as we are now and they would expect us to be just as innovative.
Many constructive ideas were born from small ideas by groups of ICA women in their communities. They grew and things changed for the better. That is a challenge for all of us  – in our Guilds, at the Federation and in our national work.
Your attention is now directed to the broader challenges that our country faces.
I have congratulated An Taoiseach Enda Kenny and his new Cabinet and wished them well.  I have also set out very clearly that in building the future, organisations such as ours, must be involved in the development of reformed structures and new approaches to public policy and better services to our communities.
An Taoiseach has also been advised that ICA believes that the future will be built on local sustainability, strengthened communities, the sharing of creativity, knowledge and skills, and on conservation and self-sufficiency within communities and families. In every aspect of public policy we can contribute if Government is open to genuine engagement with civil society.
We know from our personal experience, and as an organisation, that doing more with less is not beyond imagination. However, to do this, we have to move from a strongly vested interest approach, to one which places a wider common good at the centre of decision making.
The Programme for Government and the new Cabinet portfolios suggest some significant changes in areas of concern to us including health and the delivery of health services and policy and services in relation to children. Our experience and expertise in these areas suggest that the changes must be carefully considered but they must also become clear and effective quickly.
The public good and quality services must be front and centre, together with, but not only, cost effective delivery.
Services which are fundamental – access to basic health care, speedy diagnosis and treatment of serious illness, services to women and children who are victims of domestic and sexual violence; and quality care for older people are not luxuries in a modern democracy. In one, which needs to use its resources wisely, they are priorities.
I was particularly struck in the new Programme for Government by the commitment to reform, from the Constitution down through public services. While in many ways the 1937 Constitution may have served the country, when it comes to the role of women it is less than a desirable model.  I have advised An Taoiseach that we will want to see a very thorough debate on reforms and a real commitment to achieving changes that underpin the equality of women as citizens and as full participants in our democracy.
We need to be ready for this debate, and between now and the next Regional Conference I will be proposing a consultative process throughout the Association. The question is simple - what reforms do we want to see in Ireland and how it is governed fit for the 21^st century?
We need to be familiar with the debate and to formulate and research our own thinking, so that our voice is informed, imaginative and practical.
Within the ICA we are gradually creating a clearer strategic approach to our own work and to re-establishing our role, not only as an important organisation for ourselves but also as a vital force in Ireland. If we are to be effective then we all have to work together and to have a vision of the ICA that is important, influential and able to lead and support change.’

Summary of Address by National ICA President Anne Maria Dennison March 12 2011at Regional ICA Conference, Waterford