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Happy May Day 2012 

Since 1992 Montague Communications has been working with its clients to bring about progressive social, economic and political change. To mark our 20th anniversary we want to wish all of those who have shared this journey with us or will do so in the future -including you - a Happy May Day.

(If you'd like to see our selection of previous May Day cards, please click on to the ‘About Us' tab and scroll down to the bottom of that section.)

Big Welcome for Christine Walsh

We've recently been joined by Christine Walsh who until recently was with the campaigning organisation, Mental Health Reform. A UCD graduate who also holds the Masters in Public Affairs from the DIT, Christine hails from Kilkenny and is not unfamiliar with Brian Cody and the Liam McCarthy Cup - but we won't hold that against her! Montague Communications is delighted that Christine has joined us and we look forward to working with her in the period ahead.

Mandate Trade Union - Decent Work = Better Future

Mandate Trade Union, which represents over 45,000 retail workers in Ireland, unveiled its latest campaign - Decent Work = Better Future - at its recent conference in Wexford, where the union also announced that it will be advising its members to Vote No in the referendum on 31 May next. The next instalment of the Decent Work = Better Future campaign will be revealed towards the end of May when a major study on how the recession has impacted on retail workers will be published.

Re-Appointed to IPH Account

Together with our partners in Northern Ireland, Stratagem, Montague Communications have - following a thorough tendering process - been re-appointed to provide communications support to the all-island body, the Institute of Public Health in Ireland (IPH). With interesting reports on issues such as hypertension due for publication over the next few months it looks like it's going to be a busy time ahead with IPH.

Proposed Redevelopment of Liberty Hall

Montague Communications is continuing to assist SIPTU with its proposed redevelopment of Liberty Hall. The latest plans were submitted in December 2011 and Dublin City Council has made a decision to grant planning permission for the proposed redevelopment. That decision has been appealed to An Bórd Pleanála who are currently considering the appeals and SIPTU's response to it.

TOP SPEAKERS AT NESSA CHILDERS' CONFERENCE ON MEDIA DIVERSITY

Minister Pat Rabbitte, Former New Statesman Editor, John Lloyd, and leading campaigner and commentator on phone-hacking scandal, Brian Cathcart, were among the speakers at a recent conference Media Diversity: Why Does it Matter? in Dublin. Montague Communications, along with Brian Trench, assisted Nessa Childers MEP and her staff in putting the line-up together as well as promotion of the event and publicizing the proceedings of the conference. 

 The well-attended conference addressed a number of important themes including:

• Regulating for media diversity: how effective is it? - Examination of the effectiveness of international policies for regulating the media;
• Media ownership in Ireland - a review of the extent to which the Irish media is diverse and a discussion on the balance that needs to be struck between diversity/economic viability in order to have a strong media to hold authority to account;
• Is media diversity a condition of democracy? - a discussion on how important, or otherwise, media diversity is to a thriving democracy;
• Murdoch Unmasked: Are the Moguls in Decline? - a presentation on the evolving situation in relation to News International and what this situation reveals, if anything, about the future for media conglomerates;
• New Media, New Voices? - a discussion on the extent to which new media presents an alternative forum to traditional media for new voices to emerge, or just an additional strand to the traditional media mix.

More information on the inputs at the conference can be found at www.nessachilders.ie

IPH Report on Impact of the Recession on Men's Health

The economic recession with its accompanying rise in unemployment rates is linked to extremely adverse effects for men’s mental health - according to new research from the Institute of Public Health in Ireland (IPH).

The research report Facing the Challenge – The Impact of the Recession and Unemployment on Men’s Health in Ireland identifies a strong expectation of increased mental health problems for men given the very strong correlation between unemployment and male mental ill health.

The report is the result of a research and consultation process carried out, in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, by Nexus Research Co-operative on behalf of IPH.

Click on the image of here to read the report

St. Patrick's College Write to Read Project Launch

Montague Communications worked closely with St. Patrick’s College to launch the expansion of the Write to Read project. The initiative has already seen fantastic results such as one in five students score over 80th percentile on a National Standardised Reading Test while those scoring below 10th percentile reduced by three quarters.

The Minister for Education and Skills, Ruairí Quinn TD, launched the Write to Read project – a St Patrick’s College, Drumcondra, Schools and Community Partnership Project in literacy. Write to Read grew out of a successful pilot project in Our Lady Immaculate Junior National School in Dublin’s Darndale, and is now being rolled out to eight additional national schools in Dublin.

The Advocacy Initiative  

The Advocacy Initiative has its origins in a discussion at the Centre for Non-profit Management (TCD) Summer School in 2008, which addressed the theme of Relationships and Representation: Irish Civil Society at the Crossroads. This event considered various aspects of the development of the Community and Voluntary sector and its relationship with the State and public agencies.

The motivation that underpins the Advocacy Initiative can be summarised as an interest in exploring the experience, practice and principles of advocacy with the following goals:

1. To advance knowledge on the current state of advocacy in Ireland;
2. To provide a perspective on the Community and Voluntary sector’s current challenges; and
3. To contribute to informed debate with the sector and the State

The Advocacy Initiative report was co-authored by Montgaue Communications Managing Director, Pat Montague & Middequarter Managing Director, Owen Keenan.

To read the report please click on the above logo or visit The Advocacy Initiative website by clicking here

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