Biodiversity “Bio” refers to life and ‘living things’ and “diversity” means wide range or variety. The word refers to the huge variety and variation of life that surrounds us. Maintaining a high level of diversity among plants, animals and all living things all around us is essential to keep the environment healthy and fit for human life. This includes diversity within species, between species and diversity of ecosystems. www.biodiversityireland.ie
Blueways A connected stretch of rivers, lakes, canals and coastlines that provide opportunities for recreational activities like biking, canoeing and walking.
Cultural Infrastructure Cultural infrastructure includes people, technology, cultural collections and buildings. Together, these components means that arts and cultural experiences can be planned and provided.
Children and Young People's Services Committees (CYPSC) Interagency working (though committees) that improves the lives of children, young people and families in Ireland.
www.cypsc.ie/your-county-cypsc/south-dublin.234.html
Civic capacity Civic capacity is an individual characteristic that refers to a citizen's ability to take part in the political decision-making process. It includes skills like being able to discern facts and making judgments in the context of civic work.
Climate Change Mitigation Refers to efforts to reduce or prevent emission of harmful gases like carbon dioxide and methane. Mitigation can mean using new technologies and renewable energies, making older equipment more energy efficient, or changing management practices or consumer behavior.
Cloud Technologies Cloud computing is the on-demand availability of computing services over the internet. These services include servers, storage, databases, networking, software, analytics, and information.
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) FDI is an investment made by a person or firm in one country into business interests in another country.
Forward Planning Forward planning is a future-oriented exercise. It is concerned with the long-term future of a large area, and identifying opportunities for growth and development so that land can be managed in the best interests of the public.
Greenways Greenway area - predominantly a traffic free path, designated for use by pedestrians, cyclists and other non-motorised users such as wheelchair users, families with buggies and so on.
Local Economic and Community Plan (LECP) This is a six-year plan with objectives and actions to promote and support economic development and to promote and support local and community development by the local authority in partnership with other economic and community development stakeholders. www.sdcppn.ie/resources/lecp
Local Community Development Committee (LCDC) Local Community Development Committees (LCDCs) are committees in each Local Authority area. They aim to improve strategic planning and co-ordination of local and community development activity.
Mobility projects Actions to reduce traffic congestion and improve public transport options such as cycle paths.
Members Reps The role of elected members is to represent the people in their area. The elected member can make an input to the local authority on behalf of the community about activities that affect their area. They can also ask questions or raise issues on behalf of both groups and individuals directly to the local authority and to other bodies. These questions are called 'Members Reps', and they can submit them to the local authority online through a specially designed IT system.
National Oversight and Audit Commission (NOAC) National independent oversight (overseeing) organisation for the local government sector in Ireland. This involves the scrutiny of performance in general, and financial performance specifically. www.noac.ie
Public Realm Public realm generally refers to all areas to which the public has access to like roads, streets, lanes, parks, squares and bridges and open spaces.
Performance Management and Development System (PMDS) This is a formal process of self-evaluation and structured discussion. It aims to help the personal, professional, and career development of an individual member of staff.
Public Participation Network(PPN) Public Participation Networks are collectives of environmental, social inclusion, community and voluntary organisations in a county or city. www.sdcppn.ie
Participatory budgeting Participatory budgeting (PB) is a process of democratic deliberating and decision-making, in which ordinary people decide how to allocate part of a municipal or public budget.
Pocket park A pocket park is a small park accessible to the general public. Pocket parks are frequently created on a single vacant building lot or on small, irregular pieces of land. They also may be created as part of the public space requirement of large building projects.
Risk Register A Risk Register is a tool for documenting risks, and actions to manage each risk. The Risk Register is essential to the successful management of risk. As risks are identified they are logged on the register and actions are taken to respond to the risk.
Rightsizing strategy Rightsizing is an older person's active, positive choice to move home as a way of improving their quality of life. The ability to rightsize depends on both the availability and accessibility of housing options that people feel would improve their quality of life. This often involves moving to smaller housing units.
Renewable Energies Renewable energy is energy that has come from the earth's natural resources which can be used repeatedly and replaced naturally, such as wind and sunlight. Renewable energy is an alternative to the traditional energy that relies on fossil fuels, and it tends to be much less harmful to the environment.
Service Level Agreement (SLA) A service-level agreement is a commitment between a service provider and a client. Particular aspects of the service – quality, availability, responsibilities – are agreed between the service provider and the service user.
Shared Service A ‘shared service’ is where work is handed over to another local authority or branch of the Public Service who look after the same work for several local authorities, making it more cost-effective.
Substantive equality Substantive equality recognises that policies and practices put in place to suit the majority of people may appear to be non-discriminatory but may not address the specific needs of certain groups of people.
Triple bottom line [principle] The ‘Triple Bottom Line’ principle is an accounting framework with three parts: social, environmental and financial.
Taking in charge When a residential development is completed in line with planning permission and other details, the developer may make a written request to the Planning Department to have the estate taken in charge. This includes maintenance of roads, footpaths and public lighting.
Voter.ie Website for Dublin residents to register to vote. It is a service that enables citizens (Dublin residents only) to go online to add themselves to the Register of Electors (new applications, first time registration) or change their address. www.voter.ie
Zoned Housing Land Local authorities regularly draw up development plans and local area plans for their areas. Among other things, these plans outline the use to which land may be put, for example, land may be designated for residential use; for industrial, commercial, agricultural or recreational use as either open space or a mixture of those uses. This is generally described as “zoning”. From time to time, the local authority may consider changing the designation of particular lands (“rezoning”)