About Us

Irish Partners in Policymaking was created following the creation of Partners in Policymaking in Minnesota by the Governor's Council on Developmental Disabilities in 1987.

The purpose of the program is twofold:

To teach best practices in disability, and the competencies of influencing public officials.

THE SEVEN CLANS OF LAOIS - The sept or seven-fold system seems to have been a peculiarity of Gaelic civil life interwoven with ecclesiastical divisions and custom.Here in Laois the descendants of the first Laoiseach, became in time, spoken of as the Seven Laoises, meaning in a loose indefinite sort of way, land divisions and clan divisions.Here under are the names generally recognised as the seven Clans of Laois:- O Mordha (Moore) Descendants of Laoiseach Ceann-Mor or Lann-Mor; Latinised Majesticus - The Majestic. Principal stronghold Dun Masc; three castles in Tua’ Mhic Lua viz. Ballyroan, Clontycoe and Dooary. The history of Laois centres around this clan and its branch clans.

Since 1987, Partners programs have been implemented in 46 states, the Northern Mariana Islands, Netherlands, Virgin Islands and the United Kingdom.

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More than 13,000 Partners graduates are part of a growing national and international network of community leaders serving on policy making committees, commissions, and boards at all levels of government.