Council staff are recognised by awards

Limavady Borough Council, which employs 173 people, was officially presented with the IiP plaque at a prestigious ceremony at Hillsborough on Wednesday, April 14. The Council was one of 33 local businesses praised by Alan Shannon, the Permanent Secretary of the Department for Employment and Learning, for preparing for the upturn by continuing to improve and invest in their people. Investors in People has long been acknowledged as the most successful framework for business improvement through people. It helps organisations of every size, sector and location to compete and succeed through improved people performance. Praising the effort and work of staff, and support from councillors, Liam Flanagan, Chief Executive of Limavady Borough Council said: "We are delighted to be recognised as an Investors in People organisation and to receive this award. I would like to recognise and pay tribute to the support and commitment we received from Councillors and congratulate all of the staff who worked so hard to achieve this award. This Investors in People accreditation demonstrates our organisation's commitment to provide quality customer focused services and facilities to the ratepayers, customers and visitors to the Borough by investing in, and developing our employees."

Speaking at the event Cathal hOisn, Mayor of the Limavady Borough, emphasised how valuable obtaining this IiP status is for Council. He said: "This award demonstrates our commitment to continuous improvement across all of the services we deliver. We should be proud of the levels of excellence we have achieved and of the development opportunities which employees have undertaken and completed."

"I understand that later some of these employees will be recognised here today and presented certificates for the training they have completed. These opportunities have an immediate impact on the level of services and variety of services which we can deliver as a Council."

In concluding his speech the Chief Executive noted: "I would like therefore to congratulate all of you in the organisation, those here today and those who could not be here for all your efforts in working to put into effect our organisational goals and business objectives."

"A particular thank you is due to those staff who were interviewed in this process and very big congratulations to Eamon McCotter, Sandra Kelly, Hazel Foy and Sharon Donaghy who put a lot of effort into driving forward this objective, preparing and developing all of us to ensure we did indeed put our best foot forward and give a good account of ourselves."

Limavady Borough Council was one of only two Councils that received the IiP award at the ceremony at Hillsborough and it now joins a relatively small group of Councils that not only has IiP accreditation, but holds the award across the whole organisation.

The event was enjoyed by staff and councillors alike.