Global award for Laois man in Paris

Community activist and Stradbally social inclusion campaigner Donal O’Shea travelled to France recently where he received a global award for his efforts to advance inclusiveness in society.

Donal was presented with Global Award for Social Impact at the UNESCO HQ in Paris by the International Forums of Inclusion Practitioners at a conference in March.

Donal was nominated for the award for his work with the Public Participation Network. He has been involved in the Laois PPN for several years and also plays his part in advancing PPN aims nationally.

His efforts were recognised locally in 2019 when he was named the Unsung Hero at the Laois Community and Voluntary Awards. He was also shortlisted by the Irish Centre for Diversity for a national leadership award this year.

He reflects positively on his attendance at the Paris event and being recognised.

“It was an honour to attend with The Irish flag flying high, especially for the weekend that was in it,” he said.

Donal outlined the value of travelling to Paris.

“It was a unique opportunity to meet like-minded people from all over the world who are committed to reforming and advancing areas of policy and education to ensure that both are adequately inclusive and robust.

“As part of my commitments to social reforms and advancing social areas of policy, I will keep in touch with colleagues from IFIP, as I do with various European entities, to assist with the alignment and advancement of policies,” he said.

Donal is frequently impacted by a debilitating autoimmune condition called ankylosing spondylitis. He says he is one of more than 1 million people declare that they had one or more disability in the last census and 70% of these of a 'hidden nature'.

“I believe that successive Governments have been lackadaisical, in their approach under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD).

“The Green paper by the Department of Social Protection on disabilities has not cut the mustard with the disability sector, as it is exclusively monetary.

“An important aspect, but the importance of human dignity can not be underestimated, as outlined by President Joe Biden when he addressed our joint houses of the Oireachtas in April on values, together with civil rights, duty of care, social Justice etc, all are important to people impacted by disability. This can only be achieved with all stakeholders working to agreed principles and processes.

“The recent Referendums is just one example which showed that there is a disconnect between mainstream politics and the people. As a nation, we place much emphasis on fairness, and I believe there will need to be careful consideration and reflection to ensure that any such referenda are adequately robust, transparent and fair to present to the people,” he said.

Donal’s experience led him to being appointed to an HSE Chronic Disease Management (CDM) programme in 2022. There are only a limited number of conditions which are currently listed.

He has made numerous contributions to advancing the cause of inclusiveness at several levels.

He submitted to the review of the Criminal Justice strategy in August 2020, focusing on social inclusion, equality and minority groups. The Minister for Justice later announced radical reforms to family law.

He has also worked on the reinforcement of the civil rights of the disability sector.

Following successive submissions, he says the need for an additional policy objective is recommended for the Laois County Development Plan, to represent social inclusion.

He has also made representation to the office of the director of the World Health Organisation (WHO). Training was subsequently undertaken to align policy from a social inclusion, mental well being, disability perspective among others.

He also made representation to Sara Minkara, as the US special advisor on International Disability rights, in July of 2023.

He said a submission by colleagues from the structural committee of the National Public Participation Network (PPN) secretariat has shared its findings and recommendations with Crowe consultants via the Department of Rural and Community development with a view to establishing an Independent national structure to assist with increased inputs on policy from 'grassroots' participation, improvements with the alignment of policy and oversight. More below picture.

Donal said this is in keeping with the findings of the management company Mazars, who issued their own report on the PPNs.

Donal says society and democracy benefit from including people.

“With democracy in crisis all over the world, this is a unique opportunity to advance our democracy, with a bottom up approach contributing to a much more robust, holistic and inclusive formation and delivery of policy.

“This is in keeping with the emphasis being placed on the move towards participative democracy at a European level. Many have drawn correlations with the phrase by the former chief medical officer (Tony Holohan) about "Flattening the Curve" only on this occasion in how our democracy is constructed and policy is delivered,” he says.

Donal concludes by pledging to continue his work to tackle exclusion.

“Ultimately, it’s my passion for advancing the cause of social inclusion and the people impacted, which continues to fuel my commitments,” he says.