Awards Ceremony - IT Centre MDA & Laois Partnership January 2010

Over 190 certificates in IT Skills were presented at an awards ceremony in Mountmellick Community Arts Centre which was jointly organised by Mountmellick Development Association (MDA) and Laois Partnership Co. (LPC). The awards were presented to participants who took part in a number of computer and mobile phone training programmes in Mountmellick Development Association over the past year.

Funding had been made available under a number of funding streams for the participants including eInclusion BenefIT funding from the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, BTEI funding from Department of Education and Computer Bursary funding from LPC.

Members from a wide range of groups took part in the IT training including Mountmellick Active Retirement Group, Mountmellick Travellers Group and Laois Dyslexia Group. Patients from St. Vincent’s Hospital and local residents groups also availed of the training. A broad range of IT skills courses were run including courses for Absolute Beginners, Microsoft Office, Digital Photography and Fetac Computer Literacy.

Speaking at the awards ceremony, Pat Fitzpatrick, chairperson of MDA said that the training was primarily for people who had no previous access to computers. He, also, mentioned that the MDA IT Training Centre was completely accessible and could cater for people with a wide range of disabilities and MDA has now become a registered Fetac centre.

Speaking on behalf of Laois Partnership Co., Peter O’Neill, vice chairperson, congratulated all the participants “I wish them every success and hope that their newly acquired IT skills will be put to good use in the future”, he said.