With all of the challenges facing the Council in terms of service delivery, mainstreaming equality of opportunity and good relations and managing diversity, it is very important that the Council communicates with all its citizens in an accessible, transparent, open manner. Through having a better understanding of what we do, how well we do it and why we do it, our residents, users and opinion formers can play a more informed role in influencing our policies and services, thereby ensuring that they do receive high quality and effective local services for local people. The Council is committed to ensuring that it communicates with everyone in an open and accessible manner and to assist in this process it has established a Corporate Press Office to handle all enquiries regarding the Council and issue all press statements, releases and photocalls. In the period May 2008 - July 2009 the value of the total coverage received by Council was £1.28 million and this does not include bought space through advertising. In the past year, the Corporate Press Office organised 207 photocalls, processed 288 press releases and processed & replied to 1,140 press queries.
The Press Office undertakes and facilitates a range of public relations campaigns to inform our citizens about different issues. It also organises all Civic Receptions and annual premier corporate events such as Kilbroney, The Mayor’s Charity Ball, and Corporate Award Evenings.
The contacts for the Corporate Press Office are
Mrs Regina Mackin
028 3031 3095
regina.mackin@newryandmourne.gov.uk
Mrs Hilary Halliday
028 3031 3072
hilary.halliday@newryandmourne.gov.uk
Communciations Strategy
The Council has a Corporate Communications Strategy which details its plan of action in terms of internal and external communications.
It produces its Ratepayers News sheet “Citizens News” every year and in June 2007 it produced the second edition of its Concise Dictionary (Irish Version An Foclóir Cruinn 2007). Both of these documents are distributed to every household in the District and are available in different formats upon request.
Household Panel
Newry and Mourne District Council as part of its commitment to engage directly with its Ratepayers in order to seek their views on Council services and facilities has established a Household Panel.
The members of the Panel which was selected by an independent research company are ratepayers from across the District.
The Panel meets every three months to discuss Council services, facilities and performance and to suggest how we can continually improve the services we deliver to our citizens. It provides a direct opportunity for citizens to have a say in how our services are designed and delivered and the Council welcomes the useful feedback received at these meetings.
For further information on the Panel contact
Mrs Regina Mackin
028 3031 3095
regina.mackin@newryandmourne.gov.uk