Senan Cooke has been acknowledged for his work on social enterprise in County Waterford and beyond.
On Wednesday last, in the Priory Market, Tallaght, Dublin, the Department of Rural & Community Development held it first ever National Awards for Social Enterprise.
There were 8 categories with three finalists for each one in attendance and from which 8 winners were chosen. The event was attended by Minister for Social Enterprise Jerry Buttimer TD and department staff.
The final announcement was for the Lifetime Achievement Award which was presented to Senan from Ballycraddock, Dunhill.
Senan has been involved with numerous Dunhill projects, DFBA (Dunhill, Fenor, Boatstrand, Annestown) Community Enterprises, Copper Coast, Comeragh Network and a wide cross section of national and international programmes and projects.
He is currently a member of Croke Park GAA Demographics Committee which is focused on regenerating clubs and communities in rural areas in decline and in new highly populated urban areas where new clubs are needed with other initiatives to help in creating viable and inclusive communities.
The citation included his involvement in several government bodies, Commission for Economic Development of Rural Areas (CEDRA), authoring of seminal book on social enterprise ‘The Enterprising Community’ launched in 2018, his extensive participation in developing Ireland’s policy framework for social enterprise and his involvement with others in founding seven successful start- up social enterprises.
The citation also highlighted how much the social enterprise sector and its membership had benefited from his work. It concluded by stating he was an incredibly worthy recipient of this inaugural award.
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