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Montague and Middlequarter Awarded Advocacy Initiative Contract

Montague Communications and Middlequarter Ltd (headed up by former Barnardos’ CEO, Owen Keenan) have just been awarded the contract to undertake research for the Advocacy Initiative – a collaborative initiative involving many of the key organisations and leaders in the NGO sector.

The work that will be undertaken as part of this contract will include:

• Development of a Research Paper;
• Holding of a Masterclass and Conference on Advocacy;
• Development of an Advocacy Toolkit.

The aims of the project are to:

• Identify contemporary and emerging principles and models of advocacy internationally against which Irish advocacy practices can be assessed;

• Assess advocacy in Ireland and the relationship between civil society and the State;

• Generate greater awareness of current trends and challenges in the practice of civil society advocacy in Ireland and will engage with popular media to generate greater debate with the political system and the general public.

Older & Bolder Campaign Success

Montague Communications have just completed our latest successful campaign with Older & Bolder culminating in the Government’s decision not to further cut the State Pension and other supports for older people.

This phase of Older & Bolder’s campaign (www.olderandbolder.ie) was aimed at protecting the income supports for older people against the cuts proposed in the McCarthy Report. It began in the autumn and involved a huge amount of work by a large team including Older & Bolder’s staff, member organisations and hundreds of volunteers around the country as well as the Montague team. Activities included:

• Petition signing campaign – leading to the signing of nearly 20,000 petitions;
• Nationwide lobby of Oireachtas members;
• Billboard and newspaper advertising campaign;
• Publication of research on the impact of the recession on older people as well as the outcome of a nationwide consultation with older people;
• National and local media campaign.

Standing Up for Education

One of our most recent campaigns is the Stand Up For Education (www.standupforeducation.ie) campaign which was successfully launched in late October. This long-term campaign is sponsored by the Teachers Union of Ireland and supported by the National Parents Association for Vocational Schools and Community Colleges and its aims are:

Since its launch, the campaign has focused on lobbying Oireachtas members in support of its aims and building up a list of important endorsers. To date those who have agreed to endorse the campaign include:

• National Parents Council – Post Primnary;
• Aontas;
• Barnardos;
• National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals;
• Irish Second-Level Students Union;
• OPEN;
• Irish Traveller Movement;
• Irish Congress of Trade Unions;
• Mandate;

• SIPTU.

Montague help Launch New Liberty Hall

The country’s largest trade union, SIPTU, unveiled their plans – with the assistance of Montague Communications – for the redevelopment of Liberty Hall on its unique historic site on Dublin’s quays at the union’s Centenary Conference last October.

The ‘New’ Liberty Hall – which will become one of the premier attractions in the city – will include:

• Welcoming public entrance area;
• 16 storeys of offices and meeting rooms;
• Unique Heritage Centre on the history of the labour movement and a Sky Deck with a panoramic view of the city;
• Theatre and conference centre.

It’s expected that an application for planning permission will be made win the coming weeks.

• To increase the level of investment in education in Ireland to 7% of GDP over a period of time to be agreed;
• To reverse cuts imposed over the past year as soon as possible; and
• To provide additional places in education for the government's employment activation programme by the removal of artificial limits on enrolment in Post Leaving Cert and other courses designed for this process.

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