Grassroots key at EU talks
An event on Leeside this week heard how important it is to include grassroots in any discussions about future EU opportunities.
EU for Cork: Unlocking Opportunities for Cork, held in City Hall on Monday afternoon, was organised by the European Commission Representation in Ireland with support from European Movement Ireland.
The forum was opened with welcome addresses by the Lord Mayor of Cork Cllr Kieran McCarthy and Mayor of the County of Cork Cllr Frank O’Flynn, while European Commissioner for Financial Services, Financial Stability and Capital Markets Union Mairead McGuinness delivered the key note address.
The discussion shone a light on some projects and activities where the EU and Cork are working successfully together towards their shared goal of sustainable economic development and looked at how to step up the co-operation in the future.
During his address, the Lord Mayor said: “Whatever we unlock in our ongoing relationship with the EU, we need to make sure the grassroots are involved. There is much experience at grassroots level.”
Similarly, the EU Commissioner Mairead McGuinness said: “When we go into a room of 27 commissioners representing 27 member states it is so important that I can talk about being in Cork and that they hear what’s happening here. The day we break that connection between our grassroots and the Brussels level would be a dire day and I think we can do more, or we can do it better. Events like this are core to my work.”
She later added that involving the grassroots is key.
“There is no point in a few people talking in a room with great ideas and thinking that they have all of the great ideas if we haven’t listened first and I think sometimes we haven’t listened efficiently or effectively. This is why I am here to listen.”
Speaking about Monday’s event, Commissioner McGuinness said: “This event provides an opportunity to showcase the EU’s support for sustainable economic growth in Cork and highlights where the EU and Cork are working successfully together towards shared goals across a variety of sectors. The significant investment of €164m from the NGEU/Recovery and Resilience Fund to support electrified rail services in Cork and the wonderful initiatives highlighted (at the event), demonstrates the EU’s commitment to the development and advancement of Cork.”
Also at the event was Noelle O’Connell, CEO of European Movement Ireland, who moderated the panel discussion by David Kelly, Director of the Southern Regional Assembly, Donal Sheehan of the Biodiversity Regeneration in a Dairying Environment (BRIDE) Project and Dr Ruth Freeman, Director of Science for Society at Science Foundation Ireland, who shared their experience of using EU funding for their projects in Cork.
The BRIDE project, one of the highlighted initiatives, based in the River Bride catchment of north-east Cork and west Waterford, was established to conserve, and restore habitats in lowland intensive farmland. This is achieved with a range of measures including a payment scheme where farmers’ habitats are assessed and scored, and farmers with high quality habitats are given bigger payments.
Mayor of the County of Cork Cllr Frank O’Flynn said: “The BRIDE project has been able to unlock its potential thanks to EU funding.
“This investment also emphasises the potential of the green transition and its benefits to the county’s local economy,” he added.
Donal Sheehan of the BRIDE Project said: “From restoring bogland to installing bird boxes in farm buildings, EU funding has enabled the BRIDE project to be innovative and explore new ways to preserve and restore lowland intensive farmland. We have developed an entirely new approach to the environmental management of farmland compared to the randomised process in previous agri-environmental schemes.”