Company Registration Number: |
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C524496 |
Charitable Status Number: |
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20251 |
Solicitors: |
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Paul Connellan Solicitors, Tel: (090) 64 80700 E-mail: athlone@paulconnellan.ie |
Accountants: |
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Tom Carolan & Co. Mobile: (087) 121 6345
E-mail: tcaccounts@eircom.net
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Current Company Board of Directors
As of Friday 22nd April, 2016
Dear Member,
It is that time of year again when we, the members of the Board of Independent People with Disabilities must notify you, the members of our activities for 2015.
We have been looking after the rights of People who have been coming into our office looking for assistance with their benefits. To date we have had eight out of nine successful cases with the appeals officer in the Department of Social Protection. We held a total of 3 meetings in our office at 96 Seán Costello Street in Athlone in 2015.
Funding activities included Churchgate Collections in Mullingar, Moate and Athlone which we would like to thank the members and general public for their generous contribution to. We also held a flag day collection in the Golden Island Shopping Centre in May and also in the Town Centre, Shopping Centre in September, and again we would like to thank the members and the general public for their support and contribution to the collection.
Independent People with Disabilities would like to thank Westmeath County Council, Mullingar Credit Union, Disability Subgroup of Westmeath Community Development for their contributions to the day to day running of the office. We would like to thank also the Health Service Executive for their continued support to us through provision of a grant towards our rent – without their support we wouldn’t be able to have an office at 96 Seán Costello Street, Athlone. Last but by no means least we would like to thank the general public for their kind generosity when we held our Churchgate Collections and Flag Days.
Activities for the Year
Annual General Meeting
On Tuesday 13th October 2015 Independent People with Disabilities held their Annual General Meeting at 7:30 p.m. in the Shamrock Lodge Hotel, Clonown Road, Athlone, Co. Westmeath with 24 people in attendance, including Cllr. Tom Farrell, Mayor of Athlone Municipal District of Westmeath County Council and also Councilor John Dolan. The meeting was small but contributions from our members made for a very interesting meeting. Our guest speaker was Emma Mc Manus from Roscommon. She spoke about acquiring her disability and how she copes nowadays in her quest to find meaningful employment.
Councilor Tom Farrell spoke about the work of the council and pledged his support to us anytime we needed it. This sentiment was echoed by Councilor John Dolan as well.
Disability Showcase Day
On Wednesday 21st October, 2015 we were invited to take part in the Annual Disability / Older Persons Services & Information Day which this year took place in the Mullingar Park Hotel, Dublin Road, Mullingar. There were 33 stands displaying their information and 200 people came to view the different stands.
The conference was opened by Mr. Dermot Leavy Chairperson of Westmeath Community Development. He thanked all the exhibitors and all who attended for their interest.
Speakers on the day were:-
Hugh Mc Guire, who is the Chairperson of the Disability Subgroup of Westmeath Community Development then spoke. He thanked the guest speakers for their speeches and for giving their time to attend. Hugh went on to explain the work of the Disability Support Group of Westmeath Community Development and thanked all the staff of the organisation for their work in organizing the event.
Independent People with Disabilities displayed their services on the day and we had a number of enquiries on the day. We got five new members from our participation at this event. While this wasn’t a major amount our presence at these events is very important as it lets people know that we are out there and willing to help whenever we can.
Transport & Holidays for People with Disabilities & The Older Person
On Thursday 3rd December, 2015 we held a very informative conference in the Mullingar Park Hotel on “Transport and Holidays for people with Disabilities and the Older Person” celebrating the European Day for Disabilities.
Minister Michael Ring TD who is Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport with Special Responsibility for Tourism and Sport opened the conference.
The speakers who gave their time to speak at the conference were as follows:-
Each of the speakers gave excellent presentations of their own field of expertise and was on hand to give advice to anyone who had questions for them.
The conference was very informative and we would like to thank everyone who gave of their time to speak at the event.
At this point we would sincerely like to thank Westmeath County Council who sponsored the tea and coffee on arrival for our guests and Westmeath Community Development Ltd. who very kindly funded the conference for us this year.
Hugh Mc Guire (Company Secretary & Office Manager) was taken ill for a couple of months and had to go to hospital for surgery in 2014 and had been re-couperating in 2015 with a few visits to the office, but Hugh had another serious fall in April 2015. This meant that he had to step back from his duties and Mr. Michael Mulvey, member of the Board who was acting as Office Manager and Company Secretary continued on in that role and may we say that he has been doing a
wonderful job. Mark Ahern (Chairperson) and the rest of the Board would like to take this opportunity to thank him for all his help with keeping the show on the road.
While Hugh has been out of action, Michael Mulvey have stepped in and helped with the running of the office and has attended at all the different organisation’s meetings which Hugh had been involved namely, Westmeath Public Partnership Network, Westmeath Local Community Development Committee, Disability Subgroup of Westmeath Community Development Ltd., Community Health Forum, Westmeath Youth Forum, Westmeath Joint Policing Committee and Westmeath Older Peoples Forum.