2005 | Dublin | Level 1
Brendan Dowling
Spirited Voices Project
The project aims to assist individual citizens in saying what they want to say - to be heard by those who can influence the situation and to stimulate positive and energised change in society. A Citizen's Toolbox will be developed where numerous tools, resources and media will be available to citizens.
Brendan Dowling is a volunteer from the Whitefriar / Aungier Area Community in South Inner City Dublin working on every aspect of local development within his community.
As Chair of the Whitefriar / Aungier Area Community Council he is central to a wide variety of local initiatives from Law, Philosophy & Art Classes held in a renovated Corporation Flat to Climbing, Crafts and Aikido for local young people.
Having recently completed his training in the NCTC Limerick as a National Coach for Martial Arts, last year he was elected as the President of IMAC (the National Governing Body for Martial Arts in Ireland). Brendan sits on the Dublin Sports Network and, as Chair of the Dublin Sports and Recreation Council, is spearheading numerous initiatives around inclusion and education in Sport. He was one of a four person Committee who last year devised and implemented the highly successful LEAPS project in Croke Park focusing on using sport, in the classroom, to teach mainstream curriculum.
He has been centrally involved in the Dublin City Community Forum since its establishment in 1999 and was a founding member of the Dublin Sports and Recreation Council.
In 2003 he was instrumental in spearheading a ground breaking consultation with the Homeless population of Dublin through the filming of ‘In the Shadow of Others’ and subsequent meetings in November completed a second film focusing on the plight of those who are barred from Homeless Hostels across the city.
Since Sept 2002 he has been a Board member of the Dublin City Development Board representing the Community and Voluntary Sector via the Community Forum. As part of his function as a CDB member, he also sits on both the Dublin City Social Inclusion Measures Committee and the Dublin South East, Social Inclusion Task Force. Brendan also represents the Community Forum on the SW Regional Drugs Task Force.
Brendan is a Street Trader selling leather belts on Grafton Street, a vantage point from which he says he gets to understand what is really happening on the streets of the city.
