SERVICES
New Chairperson and Vice Chairperson for Monaghan Local Community Development Committee
At the July meeting of Monaghan (LCDC) Local Community Development Committee, Alan Johnston was elected as the new Chairperson for a 3 year term. Alan represents the Business/Employer interests on the LCDC, he succeeds Cllr. David Maxwell in this role.
Also at the meeting Alan McCabe, active member in his own community and Member of Monaghan PPN, an existing LCDC member, was elected Vice Chairperson, succeeding Packie Kelly in the role. Alan represents the Environment Pillar on the LCDC and hopes to build on the work the LCDC have already delivered over the past 6 years.
The New Chairperson Alan Johnston had previously chaired the Monaghan Town Team since it was established in January 2016, he supported the development of the town team over the last four years. Under his leadership and direction as chairperson the Monaghan Town team has achieved many awards including Enterprising Towns and the Top Ten Foodie Destination. The Team also set up the Monaghan Town Business Awards and the very successful Monaghan Town Voucher Scheme. A special word of thanks to the local businesses of County Monaghan for supporting the voucher scheme, which is now one of the top voucher schemes in Ireland.
The Local Community Development Committee is a very important Committee in County Monaghan and was established in 2014 and have primary responsibility for co-ordinating, planning and overseeing local community development funding, such as the LEADER Rural Development Programme, the SICAP programme which aims to tackle poverty and social inclusion, the HEALTHY Ireland programme and the Community Enhancement Programme etc. The LCDC drives meaningful citizen and community engagement in the scoping, planning, delivery and evaluation of local and community development programmes; They also in collaboration with Monaghan County Council have overseen the establishment and implementation of the Local Economic and Community Plan 2016-2021, a 6 year strategy, roadmap for Economic and Community Development for County Monaghan.
The outgoing Chairperson Cllr. David Maxwell and Vice Chairperson, Packie Kelly, thanked the members of the LCDC and the staff of Monaghan County Council and Monaghan Integrated Development CLG for their help and support over the last three years.
The LCDC Chief Officer Fintan McPhillips and LCDC Members congratulated the new Chairperson Alan Johnston and Vice Chairperson Alan McCabe and thanked out-going Chairperson Cllr. David Maxwell for his 3 very productive years as Chairperson on Monaghan LCDC/LAG. He also thanked Packie Kelly for his work as Vice Chairperson and confirmed that he had been a stalwart member of the LCDC/LAG for the past 6 years and the end of his term on the LCDC, he had brought the coalface of Social Inclusion into the boardroom of the LCDC.