Objective of the Board:

To develop a County Kerry Strategy for Economic, Social and Cultural Development.

1. Present Position

Hello and welcome to the latest edition of our newsletter, through which this Board hopes to promote and encourage the effective exchange of information.

The fourth meeting of the Board was held in the Brandon Hotel, Tralee, on 15 September, 2000, and the Kerry County Development Board would like to take this opportunity to welcome its new Chairman, Cllr. Tom Fleming. The meeting was convened as a plenary session and 25 members attended.

The Board considered and agreed the following issues:

(1)	Extensive consultation procedures to be utilised in the development of the Draft Strategy.
(2)	Procedures for nominations to the Monitoring Group of the Board. See Section 3 inside.
(3)	Social Inclusion issues to be considered by Working Group 2.
(4)	Audit of Service - Procedures agreed for the progression of same (See Section 4).

Dr. Kieran Hickey, Mr. David Moore and Ms. Marion Bishop, Eurogise Project, NUI Galway, made a presentation to the Board on the up to date position regarding the collation of the Statistical /Data Analysis of Kerry which will inform the strategy.

2. Work Groups

In a past newsletter, we detailed the structures, terms of reference and issues relative to the four Work Groups. To date all four Work Groups have met twice with a high attendance at all meetings. All four Work Groups have agreed to progress the issues relevant to each Work Group simultaneously. Sub Groups have been formed to deal with specific issues with one person from each Group taking responsibility to lead the Group. Sub Groups to co-opt members as deemed necessary.

What do you think?

We would be grateful of any submissions in relation to the issues of each of the Sub Groups. Please forward to the Office of the Director of Community & Enterprise, County Buildings, Tralee, Co. Kerry.

4. Audit of Service Provision

Objective of the Audit - To identify and address all relevant service provision in Kerry in order to establish a clear picture of the total extent of services being provided in the country.

Work to date:

(1)	Directories of target respondents have been broken down into different sectors as follows: Public organisations State organisations Local Development organisations Social Partners Community and Voluntary organisations
(2)	A standard questionnaire has been issued to the above, followed up by telephone and personal calls.
(3)	Clinics were held in Listowel, Killorglin, Rathmore, Kenmare, Dingle and Caherciveen from 29 May to 13 June, to assist organisations in the completion of the questionnaire.
(4)	Reminders were then issued on 29 August, 2000.

Future Progress:

The Board at it's September meeting has agreed the following procedure for completion of the Audit:

(a)	Public organisations:	Main office of each organisation identified will be contacted.
(b)	State organisations:	All state organisations to be interviewed.
(c)	Community and Voluntary organisations:	Due to the large number of organisations within this sector and the low attendance at clinics, it has been agreed to devise a priority list and conduct personal and telephone interviews with these groups.
(d)	Local Development organisations:	All organisations to be interviewed.
(e)	Social Partners:	All to be contacted.
(f)	Local Government:	Personal interviews.

In this regard, if you or your organisations have not yet completed and returned the Audit of Service Questionnaire, we would be grateful if you would give some time to same or contact us if we can be of any assistance at 066 - 718 3680.

5. Kerry County Community and Voluntary Forum

The Kerry County Community and Voluntary Forum representing you, the Community, will over the coming months be making arrangements to revisit the nine countywide locations previously visited earlier this year. Details of these meetings, when organised, will be available from members of the Community and Voluntary Forum and the Community & Enterprise Department, Kerry County Council. The Community and Voluntary Forum would urge all groups and organisations to attend these meetings as your participation will ensure: (1) A community network which will promote community development. (2) A network which will facilitate the exchange of information and experiences. (3) A network which will embrace, promote and encourage diversity. (4) A means of consultation on issues which impact on local communities. (5) A means of accountability back to local communities.

6. Community & Enterprise Department

The Kerry County Development Board and the Director of Community & Enterprise would like to take this opportunity to welcome Ms. Noreen O'Mahony, Researcher, who commenced work in the Community & Enterprise Department in September.

In addition, the Board would like to announce the appointment of two Community & Enterprise Development Officers who will commence their employment in November.