The Minister for Health & Children Mr. Michéal Martin TD, launches the first Healthy Community pilot projects in Ireland today Thursday 25^th January. The two chosen communities are Hacketstown, Co. Carlow and Ballingarry, Tipperary South Riding. The Hacketstown launch takes place at 2.15 p.m. in Hacketstown Community Centre and the Ballingarry launch takes place at 4.15 p.m. in Ballingarry Community Centre.

The National Strategies for Health Promotion identifies the community as a key setting for health promotion developments. In the South Eastern Health Board region there is a high rural population, who have many additional health challenges including a growing elderly population and a feeling of isolation from central services. This innovative project, developed by the South Eastern Health Board’s Health Promotion Department, plans to assess the health needs of the rural population and to support the building of alliances between relevant agencies, communities and organisations to address the key issues affecting the health of the rural population.

The community is one of the foundations of rural life and offers a real challenge for a new approach to health promotion at a local level. The aim of the Healthy Communities Project is to identify opportunities for health promotion in a rural setting and through shared approach help individuals and groups to achieve health and social gain. The community will be working with the SEHB to develop a healthier community that will benefit all residents.

The Department of Health and Children are supporting the project and have provided funding of £50,000 over two years initially to start this project in Carlow and Tipperary. The project also received funding of £5,000 from each County Council as a demonstration of their support for their local communities.

The support and enthusiasm of the local people in Hacketstown and Ballingarry played a major part in the selection process and the local steering committee must be acknowledged for grasping this opportunity to develop the local community even further over the coming years. To make health promotion meaningful and successful it requires us, the Health Board, to put in place systems that encourage individuals and communities to reach out and take control of their own health. This innovative project is a major leap forward and we welcome it today.

The project is initially for three years and will be evaluated on an ongoing basis. It is anticipated that if the project is successful in developing a model for promoting rural health it can be adapted for other communities throughout Ireland.

Following an advertising campaign, a number of communities were identified in Carlow / South Tipperary which met the following criteria for selection:

Population – 1,500 max

Community Centre / Meeting Place

Schools – Primary and Post-primary

Ability to demonstrate community activity and the capacity to take the project on board.

Meetings were held in the communities in Carlow and South Tipperary with representatives from local groups, health professionals and the steering group during July 2000. The aim of the meeting was to introduce the communities to the project and encourage them to complete the application form and submit for consideration by end of September. A marking scheme was applied to the submissions from the communities and the project committee selected Hacketstown in Carlow and Ballingarry in South Tipperary for involvement in project.

The evaluation of the project is ongoing and includes documentation of the process of recruiting and selecting communities.