http://www.lgbt.ie/information.aspx?contentid=14

If you are interested or know someone who would like to join the voluntary board of Amach! please contact us on info@amachlgbt.com

Background overview.

2010 - Amach! LGBT Galway Ltd lobbied the City Council. As a result the establishment of a resource centre was included in Galway City’s Development Plan for 2011-2017

2011 - Amach! asked Galway’s LGBT community to guide us on our work going forward. We held a number of open community consultation meetings in the City and County and launched an on line survey.

Amach! worked with a broad range of community organisations, local authorities and mainstream agencies (‘Inter-agency Working Group’) to identify and address gaps in the current provision of supports and services for members of the LGBT community. This work is ongoing.

2012 - In October Deputy Mayor Cllr. Frank Fahy launched the Amach! Report on LGBT community consultation and our strategic plan. The findings in this report has shaped Amach! 3 year strategic plan.

Also in October, members of Amach! and the LGBT Inter-agency Working Group attended a meeting with Minister Frances Fitzgerald. There was an open and frank discussion about our work and the need for the LGBT community in Galway to have it’s own resource centre.

In November Cllr Terry O’Flaherty, Mayor of Galway City, Cllr Peter Roche, Deputy Mayor of Galway County launched ‘Celebrating Diversity’, the three-year plan developed by the Inter-agency Working Group. The findings of Amach! LGBT community consultation report and other research informed the development of this plan.

After the launch a public meeting was held with Ms Bernadine Quinn, Co-ordinator of Dundalk Outcomers, and Mr George Robotham, Chairperson of Outhouse in Dublin, sharing their experiences and providing evidence of the benefits of having dedicated LGBT resource spaces.

Current and ongoing work;
We are very encouraged and delighted with the overwhelming support and on going work with the group of community organisations, local authorities and mainstream agencies. The priority as identified by Amach! LGBT community consultation is a dedicated LGBT resource space. Efforts are focused around five key themes: Health; Community Supports; Safety and Policing; Education and Learning andTransgender Inclusion.

Amach! have recently been successful in a funding application and are currently working on sourcing further funding and a venue to be provided towards the development of an accessible, sustainable and safe LGBT Community Resource Centre in Galway. We are confident that this will be a reality in the very near future.

A full audited report on all our for 2012 will be available at our annual open community meeting. Details of the meeting will be advertised as soon as a date is confirmed.

Please see the link below

Galway LGBT Development Plan

Cllr Terry O'Flaherty Mayor of Galway City and Cllr Peter Roche Mayor of County Galway with Interagency Working Group

The launch of ‘Celebrating Diversity’, a new three-year Development Plan, on Monday evening by Cllr Terry O’Flaherty, Mayor of Galway City, and Cllr Peter Roche, Deputy Mayor of Galway County marks a significant milestone in the work to improve the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in Galway City and County.

Highlighted by Ms Frances Fitzgerald TD, Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, as a model of best practice, the Development Plan seeks to identify and address gaps in the current provision of supports and services for members of the LGBT community. The Plan has been developed by a broad coalition of community organisations, local authorities and mainstream agencies and is based on a thorough analysis of current community needs.

Among key findings are unacceptable high levels of homophobia and transphobia in Galway with more than eight out of ten respondents in a recent survey having experienced homophobic or transphobic incidents. Findings also suggest that many members of the LGBT community continue to experience social isolation and exclusion because of their sexual orientation, with older people, rural communities, immigrants and young people in the process of coming out particularly at risk.

The coalition of organisations and agencies has identified a number of recommendations to address these issues and a range of other priority needs identified by the LGBT community in Galway. Efforts are focused around five key themes: Health; Community Supports; Safety and Policing; Education and Learning and Transgender Inclusion.

A dedicated LGBT resource space has on several occasions been identified as a priority need and a solution to address isolation by providing an alcohol-free venue for social networking and other vital supports. The establishment of a resource centre was included as an objective in Galway City’s Development Plan for 2011-2017 and the coalition of organisations and agencies has agreed a number of recommendations to progress this objective. As a first step, a public meeting was held Monday evening to coincide with the launch with Ms Bernadine Quinn, Co-ordinator of Dundalk Outcomers, and Mr George Robotham, Chairperson of Outhouse in Dublin, sharing their experiences and providing evidence of the benefits of having dedicated LGBT resource spaces.

The Development Plan will be implemented over a three-year period through to September 2015.For more information, please contact Poul Walsh Olesen, Regional Development Worker on 085-8589115 or poul@lgbtdiversity.com or visit to www.lgbtdiversity.com.

For more information on the workings of the interagency group open the link below

Information on the LGBT diverity interancy group

info@amachlgbt.com