Pan-European projects generally strike fear and loathing in to the hearts of those who can smell a bureaucratic miasma at 40 paces. All too often, good ideas mutate into incomprehensible Eurobabble - the linguistic equivalent of acute psychosis -when placed in the collective hands of Eurocrats.
But as we wrestle with the intricacies of the impending referendum on the Nice Treaty, weighing up the arguments for and against European Union expansion, it's worth our while to take a look at some reassuring signs of what genuine European co-operation can offer.
Technology has been harnessed in all manner of imaginative ways in recent years (witness smartcards, WAP phones, the human genome project, telemedecine, online art galleries), supposedly to enhance our quality of life, and now its potential is being tapped in a very practical way to bolster and direct individuals as they wrestle with some of the more important decisions in their lives.
Two years ago, Enable Ireland, a voluntary organisation which provides services to people with physical disabilities, spotted a huge gap in the delivery of supports to individuals who wished to explore vocational and employment options in their own community. So it set about the task of devising a CD. Now, the CD, BOOST!, is poised on the starting blocks, ready for use.
Enable Ireland Cork's Vicki McManus, the project co-ordinator, believes it is a tool with far wider applications than originally envisaged.
"It was originally proposed and part-funded by Leonardo EU funds for people with disabilities," she explains, "but since testing the pilot we have found that people from all backgrounds and all ability levels are finding it useful." Terry O'Neill has been first in the queue to test BOOST! and he has found it more than a little useful in zoning in on his particular strengths and interests, as well as helping him to create a CV for potential employers that fully reflected his skills and abilities.
"I'm hoping to find a job closer to home in Drimnagh," Terry says. "At the moment it's quite a haul to come over to work in Duoprint here in Enable Ireland in Sandymount, and I've found the employment section of BOOST! very useful in helping me to zone in on the kind of work I'm interested in."
Mark Creegan, one of Enable Ireland's key trainers, has been busy developing person-centred planning processes with service users, and he has had ample opportunity to test drive BOOST! by assisting individuals who want to try it out. Its individualised approach is its central strength, he suggests.
"Traditional approaches towards people with disability definitely didn't focus on individuals," he insists. "People tended to be treated only as part of a group, but this is a chance for people to have their needs responded to as individuals. So when you're responding to individuals' needs it's no longer about working within four walls and a centre. It's about promoting people's rights within their own communities.
"So I found this CD to offer a really useful way of supporting a person in gathering the relevant information and seeking out the most relevant people in order to promote that person's own quality of life, whether it be through education, training leisure or employment."
Cork-woman Angeline Collins is another participant in piloting BOOST! Who has benefited from the compass it has offered her in exploring vocational options. "It helped me to look at my life more closely," she remarks, "and it definitely helped me to think differently about what I could do.
"I've used it to help me form new ideas around my life, around leisure, accommodation, but actually doing something about them is another thing. I'm visually impaired, so one of my trainers, Angela, helps me by typing my responses to the questions. I can have it all printed out then when I'm finished.
"It's been great in helping me identify my own aspirations", she continues. "Now I find that I can talk more confidently about them when they're right there on CD, in a way that I wouldn't have done before.
Ultimately BOOST!'s strongest advantage is the tailored approach it offers anyone who wishes to use it as a vocational guidance tool. At a time when labour shortages are rife, and unemployment among people with disabilities is at a dispiriting high (80-90 per cent), BOOST!'s arrival is timely, not just for people with disabilities but for anyone interested in better identifying their personal goals.
BOOST! Was produced by a pan-European consortium including Ireland, Italy, Denmark and Finland with input from the University of Illinois in the US. It is available on CD-ROM and in printed format from: Vicki McManus, Leonardo Project Co-ordinator, Enable Ireland Cork, Ballintemple, Cork. Tel: 021-4294803
slong@irish-times.ie