StrategicPlan-24-26 FINAL - Flipbook - Page 7
2024-2026 STRATEGY
We argued at the Dáil Committee on Disability
Matters that as a key enabler for the community,
The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons
with Disabilities (UNCRPD) both enables and
supports Government to take special support
measures for personal vehicles for person’s
with a disability. However, the general direction
of flow in Government policy is against the
personal vehicle for both climate and congestion
reasons. This is reflected in decreased access in
our city centres.
Requirements in relation to driving and the
regulation of drivers have been transformed
over the last decade and the DDAI has been a
significant actor in many aspects of this change.
In the next decade, major changes will occur in
personal vehicles, policy toward vehicles and, the
means, by which Government supports a person
with a disability in relation to a personal vehicle.
Our strategy should reflect our role in shaping
this change to benefit the needs of the people
we represent.
Listening to the stories of our members and
reflecting these in terms of the needs of the
community is a key element of stimulating
change. We need to be better at hearing and
communicating these stories in the proper
fora. We will need to further strengthen our
relationships with Government departments,
specific agencies and local authorities if we are
to procure solutions. We will need to cultivate
new and existing strategic partnerships in both
voluntary and public sectors that are aligned
with DDAI’s mission and share our specialist
knowledge to co-ordinate and thus improve our
impact in our areas of focus.
The successful implementation of this strategy
will be proper resourcing of the key strategic
priorities, milestones for progress and review of
those milestones. The shared understanding of
our goals across the organisation will need to be
consistent from members to Board, to executive
and across the different activities. Public
communication of this is equally important in
managing the expectations for the organisation
and projecting a positive image of its role.
In developing this strategy during 2022-2023,
much of our early discussion was informed by
the experience and impact of working through
the pandemic. In a positive sense, the capacity
we had built in our IT infrastructure and other
areas allowed us to continue to operate without
interruption although many customer facing
services had to be suspended. In the absence
of immediate State support, the reserves
built up over many years meant that as in
2001 and 2007, a crisis was not immediately
a financial crisis. On the negative side, it did
impact on many of the networks and advocacy
relationships we had developed through lack
of activity. The degree to which parking permit
administration, which has more than doubled
in a decade, as well as increasing in complexity,
had become disproportionately dominant
became stark. Two and a half years of virtual
meetings in relation to the Board also had an
impact of innovation and creativity and progress
in achieving all the elements of compliance with
the Governance Code had slowed. Change and
uncertainty are inevitable with varying degrees
of volatility but operating in constant reaction to
events can easily lead an organisation to lose
direction. After the volatile years of 2020-2022, a
new focus was necessary.
As decision to seek outside assistance in
developing a Strategic Plan was made and
Shane Twomey of Phoenix HR & OD Consulting
joined the program. A key concern was that the
plan would be driven by the members and the
Board of Directors. Following consultation with
the directors, members were surveyed in relation
to the relevance of the Association’s mission and
purpose and preferences for areas of activities
sought. Consultations were held with employees
and with diverse stakeholders with whom the
Association interacts. Following a review of
the results a set of strategic priorities were
developed and approved by the Board.
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