by Alan Jacques
TEAM Limerick Clean Up and A Giant’s Journey are among five Limerick City and County Council initiatives shortlisted in the 2015 Chambers Ireland Excellence in Local Government Awards scheme.
Held annually in association with the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, the awards acknowledge and encourage best practice and constructive initiatives by local authorities and are also aimed at enhancing the positive relationships that already exist between chambers, businesses and their respective local authorities.
After being named overall Local Authority of the Year in 2014, Limerick City and County Council has been shortlisted in five separate categories this year.
Team Limerick Clean Up (TLC), which was sponsored by the JP McManus Benevolent Fund, has been shortlisted in the ‘Supporting Active Communities’ category. The Public Participation Network (PPN), which replaced the former City and County Community and Voluntary Forums earlier this year, has been shortlisted in the ‘Best Practice in Citizen Engagement’ category.
Innovate Limerick, which was established by the council in 2014 to drive the Limerick 2030 economic plan for the city, has been shortlisted in the ‘Local Authority Innovation’ category. The Pilot Urban Garden Project, which resulted in the delivery of a urban garden in O’Connell Street as part of Council’s plans to improve and animate Limerick’s retail core and encourage more footfall into the city centre, has been shortlisted in the ‘Enhancing the Urban Environment’ category.
Meanwhile, A Giant’s Journey – one of the centrepiece events of Limerick National City of Culture 2014 – is in the running for the ‘Festival of the Year’ award.
