How can communities utilise the power of community to improve the safety and wellbeing of their members?
At the Ploughing Championships, today Muintir na Tíre has announced details of its new mobile app – Cairde Muintir is the National Association for Community Development and supports over 1,600 Community Councils and Community Alert Groups nationwide.
At the launch, Niall Garvey, CEO, said “At our recent National Conference issues such as fear of crime, isolation, and health were to the fore. Cairde aims to address these issues in a practical way. Cairde stands for Connects, Alerts, Informs, Responds, Deters, Empowers.”
He added “Cairde is a service that enables communities and individuals within the communities to communicate effectively. It incorporates many practical tools such as the ability to receive Garda Text Alerts and a panic button which can monitor responses with real time location and time of arrival. It can link with other smart devices such as doorbell monitors and smart plugs. A very practical use could be analysing the usage of a kettle on a smart plug – if the kettle is not used at the normal time on a day, an alert can be issued to the person’s cairde – friends or neighbours”.
Cairde can also be used for community messaging – be it arranging events, surveys, reporting missing pets, or whatever is relevant within the community. It eliminates many of the restrictions associated with SMS texting, such as length and cost, and can incorporated multi-media attachments.
Speaking at the launch at the Ploughing Championships, Muintir National President, Michael Sweeney, said “Muintir na Tíre has empowered Community Groups since 1937 and remains just as relevant today. We are proud to use modern technology to allow groups communicate effectively, internally and externally. The response at the Ploughing has been very positive. Muintir has operated Community Alert in partnership with An Garda Síochána for over 30 years and this represents further tool for crime prevention.”
In conclusion, Mr Garvey said “We will be rolling this app out to groups over the coming months but in the meantime, we have a short explainer video available at www.muintir.ie/cairde, or simply call to our stand 278 at the Ploughing and we will be happy to demonstrate it to you.”