Subject: Project description – Dearest Ireland

One-sentence description of project (max 200 words)

Dearest Ireland is a place where letters to the future of Ireland are collected, published and shared with the world – a vision for the future in the context of commemorating the events of 1916.

Longer description of project

Dearest Ireland is inspired by the Dearest Scotland project. Dearest Scotland http://www.dearestscotland.com was created as a bottom-up response to the Scottish Independence debate. The letters collected were exhibited in the Scottish Parliament and published in a book. The Dearest Scotland framework has been made available by the organisers for re-use in other countries and a Dearest India project has also been created http://www.dearestindia.com/

Dearest Ireland will provide an opportunity for people to imagine what Ireland might look like in the future; what do we think about Ireland; what will our country, villages, towns, cities and institutions look like in 5, 10, 20 or 100 years time.

Who is the ‘target audience’ for the project?

People with a connection to Ireland – citizens, residents, new Irish, diaspora and descendants.

Please describe why the project is needed

Dearest Ireland will complement the official 1916 commemorative events, by enabling people to contribute their vision for the future of Ireland through a community-based, community-organised and community-driven approach.

Are there steps that you have taken already to establish that the project is needed?

No

Can you give a brief summary of these steps?

Have you checked whether similar projects already exist?

Yes

What did you find out?

There does not currently appear to be any similar initiative planned as part of the official national 1916 commemorative events.

There are grants available from local authorities for community projects relating to 1916 including projects that “re-imagine our legacy for future generations” – however, these grants are only available to projects taking place within the Local Authority area and decisions have already been made on allocation by most Local Authorities.

The Dearest Scotland framework is available for re-use for Dearest Ireland.

Any current websites / apps of yours that we could see? Please paste names and links below.

N/A

Please attach files (Word documents, etc, max 3) below, if you think they are relevant.

Further information / comments

I believe that the Dearest Ireland project would be a very good fit for Code for Ireland. It is a project which aims to give a voice to people to express their vision for the future of Ireland, which is in line with Code for Ireland’s vision to improve society and develop solutions for communities across Ireland. A framework for the primarily web-based project is available for re-use from Dearest Scotland, in line with the principle of sharing projects from Code for America, etc.

This e-mail was sent from a contact form on Code for Ireland (http://codeforireland.com)