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21 Jan 2026
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21 Jan 2026
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Unsung Hero, Donal O'Shea (StradballyCommunity Assoc./SVT/Electric Picnic ) with RTE'S Claire Byrne at the 2019 Laois Community & Voluntary Awards. Photo: Michael Scully
Stradbally man Donal O'Shea and community activist is in line for a national award for his work on social reforms, justice, inclusion, and advancing the disability sector.
He has been shortlisted as a finalist for the Diversity Inclusion Leader, Emerging Leader Award by the Centre for Diversity and Inclusion.
The Irish Centre for Diversity aims to work in partnership with organisations across Ireland to help them embed Diversity and inclusion in all they do.
Donal, who is a former Unsung Hero winner at the Laois Community and Voluntary Awards for his contribution in Stradbally, outlined some of his inclusion work.
“I have continued with the work which I have undertaken in Laois at a National and European level, in a personal capacity and through the Public Participation Network (PPN)
“These include the areas of social reforms, social justice, social inclusion, and advancing the Disability sector.
“As a social inclusion representative on the Laois PPN I have been committed to advancing a number of these areas of policy. I also represent the County on the national secretariat, where I am a member of a number of additional committees,” he said.
He has made the case at European level for people.
Following my award in 2019 at the Laois Community and Voluntary Awards, I was asked to participate in the work undertaken by Kantar on behalf of the European Commission, where I represented thousands of citizens,” said.
Donal highlighted a big achievement working with Laois County Council to prioritise social inclusion.
“Following successive submissions for the County development plan in 2021, the management of our local authority identified "the need for a new area of policy" to advance social inclusion,” he said.
The Stradbally resident is busy in lots of other areas at national level to put inclusion at the centre of State actions.
He praised the work of the organisation that is running the awards.
“The Centre for Diversity and Inclusion is doing fantastic work and they are to be commended for their leadership and commitments,” he said.
The awards will be presented in Dublin next February.
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