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Getting Dublin Working A 7 point plan to make Europe work better for Dublin 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
A Working Dublin An Inclusive Dublin A Liveable Dublin A Smart and Sustainable Dublin An Enterprising and Global Dublin A Learning Dublin A Creative Dublin
Introduction On 23 May, voters all across Europe will elect 751 MEPs. Dublin will choose three MEPs. We know more than most that decisions taken in Europe do matter. The reality now is that the European Parliament is centrally involved in these decisions. Who you chose as Dublin’s MEPs now really matters. This time it is different. I am putting myself forward as Labour’s candidate in Dublin. As a public representative with 12 years experience, I have a strong track record of effective representation and delivery for the people of Dublin, first as a city councillor and now as MEP. As Lord Mayor (2009-10), I established the Commission on Employment, which produced a blueprint for a jobs-rich recovery in Dublin. As an MEP (since early 2012), I led the campaign for the European Youth Guarantee to tackle Ireland’s youth unemployment crisis. I served as the European Parliament’s lead negotiator for the new European antipoverty programme, overcame the initial opposition of five governments, and increased its budget from €2.5 billion to €3.8 billion. And earlier this year, I secured the first ever European Parliament explicit endorsement of Ireland’s campaign to lessen Ireland’s legacy debt burden. I am now offering the people of Dublin a clear choice. I want to see Europe take a new direction - growth, decent jobs and raising living standards must now be Europe’s main priorities. I am the only candidate in Dublin standing for the European Parliament’s key Socialists and Democrats group, the only political group that can change Europe. I am passionate and optimistic about Dublin’s future, as a smart, sustainable, and connected city – a jewel in the crown of European cities. I am now asking for your vote on 23 May - to help me make Europe work better for Dublin. Yours sincerely,
Emer Costello MEP Leader, Labour Delegation, Socialists & Democrats Group, European Parliament
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1. A Working Dublin With a population of 1.8 million, the Dublin city region is the powerhouse of Ireland’s economy. Taking account of the wider Dublin city-region, Dublin is classified as among Europe’s 40 main ‘larger urban zones’ by the EU’s statistical agency Eurostat. The role of Dublin as Ireland’s economic engine must be to the fore in Ireland’s European strategy. Six years after Ireland’s economic implosion, Dublin is beginning to lead Ireland’s economic recovery. Unemployment is falling. The numbers at work are increasing. And consumer confidence is returning. But unemployment in Dublin is still at unacceptable levels, at over 90,000 people, including over 14,000 young people. Tackling Dublin’s unemployment crisis and securing more and better jobs in Dublin has been my main priority as Dublin’s MEP. I led the campaign for the European Youth Guarantee and the EU is now investing €130 million to implement the Youth Guarantee in Ireland. To promote more and better jobs in Dublin I will: ■ Work for the implementation of a quality European Youth Guarantee so that every young person (under-
25) is offered quality employment, continued education, a traineeship, or an apprenticeship, within four months of becoming unemployed or leaving formal education. In particular, I will promote the implementation of the recommendations of the report I prepared on the European Youth Guarantee following the public meetings I organised across Dublin between 2013 and 2014, as well as the experience of the Ballymun Youth Guarantee pilot project and similar pilots underway in other European countries. ■ Seek additional EU funding for the European Youth Guarantee through other EU funding programmes
and instruments such as the European Social Fund, Erasmus+ and the European Investment Bank, the redirection of unspent EU funds, and by seeking additional EU funding for the European Youth Guarantee during the next EU budget revision in 2016.
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■ Work to ensure that the implementation of the March
2014 European Quality Framework for Traineeships raises standards for all people undertaking internships in Dublin and to guard against exploitation and displacement. ■ Work to ensure that the European Alliance for
Apprenticeships and the new Erasmus+ programme contribute to the on-going reform and expansion of Ireland’s apprenticeship system, particularly in jobs-rich sectors such as the green economy, healthcare and ICT, as well as in public administration in Dublin. ■ Work to further develop the Employment and Skills Strategy for Dublin, as proposed by the four Dublin
Local Authorities and the Dublin Regional Authority in 2010, through the EU Skills Panorama. This strategy should address issues such as the integration of services for the unemployed, and the need for particular responses for the long-term unemployed, young people, people with disabilities people from a migrants’ background and people with multiple needs. ■ Work for the enactment of the social clause, set out in the 2014 public procurement directives enabling
public authorities, including Dublin’s local authorities, to require compliance in all public contracts with labour law and collective agreements and on joint and several liability for subcontractors; for local labour clauses, as has been introduced for the development of a single campus at Grangegorman; and to ensure that a certain percentage of workers employed on public works contracts in Dublin are drawn from the long-term unemployed. ■ Work to give full effect to the enhanced environmental criteria included in the 2014 public procurement
directives to promote environmentally-sensitive public procurement in Dublin. ■ Promote support from the 2014-20 Structural and Investment Funds, particularly the European Social
Fund, for the setting up and operation of Local Employment Pacts in the Local Authority area made up of local employers and trade unions, the Intreo Office Managers, education providers and other key stakeholders to tackle unemployment and to coordinate the implementation of the European Youth Guarantee, building on the experience gained from the Ballymun pilot and similar pilots in other EU countries. ■ Work to ensure that the delivery of the new Intreo service offering a single point of contact for jobseekers
and employers in Dublin takes part in and avails of the opportunities presented by the new EU legislation promoting cooperation between Europe’s public employment services. ■ Seek to ensure that the new EU Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund is used to promote both more and
better jobs among Dublin’s new communities. ■ Promote the use of the EU Structural and Investment Funds, particularly the European Social Fund, to up-
skill and train former construction workers to ensure Dublin avails of the employment potential from retrofitting/building insulation under the EU’s Energy Efficiency Plan.
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2. An Inclusive Dublin The Europe 2020 strategy sets the target of reducing the numbers of people living at risk of poverty by 20 million by 2020. This equates to a reduction of at least 185,000 in Ireland. In the outgoing European Parliament, I helped ensure that the regulations on the 2014-20 Structural and Investment Funds provide the means to achieve this target, in particular by introducing a new requirement that at least 20% of European Social Fund (ESF) resources are to be devoted to ‘promoting social inclusion, combating poverty and any discrimination’. To make Dublin a more inclusive city I will: ■ Promote the use of the 2014-20 Structural and Investment Funds, particularly the European Social Fund,
the European Regional Development Fund, the Employment and Social Innovation Fund and the Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived (FEAD) to tackle and overcome the challenges of poverty and social exclusion in Dublin, and to achieve the Europe 2020 targets on poverty and social exclusion. ■ Campaign to ensure that national ‘co-financing’ provided to draw down EU funds aimed at achieving the
Europe 2020 targets, particularly the anti-poverty, employment and education targets, is not considered as part of Ireland’s debt and deficits calculations under EU budgetary rules. ■ Promote synergies between the FEAD programme and the Structural and Investments Funds to tackle
extreme deprivation and to promote the social inclusion of people, particularly children, living at the extreme margins of Irish society and synergies between FEAD and other EU policy initiatives such as those aimed at reducing food waste and promoting public health. ■ Promote the use of the 2014-20 Structural and Investment Funds to implement the EU Recommendation
Investing in Children – Breaking the Cycle of Disadvantage in Dublin, one of the key elements of the European Commission’s Social Investment package presented in February 2013. I will work with Dublin’s childcare committees to ensure greater EU support for the provision of good quality and affordable childcare in Dublin. ■ Campaign for gender equality objectives to be included in the Europe 2020 strategy, for the genuine
gender mainstreaming of all EU policies, especially all social, economic and employment policies, to meet the objectives of the Europe 2020 strategy. ■ Campaign for the adoption on a new directive on equal pay with the aim of cutting the gender pay gap
by at least 2% a year, and for the adoption of the EU directive promoting more women on company boards, towards greater gender equality in decision-making. ■ Promote the adoption of an overall EU strategy to combat violence against women, encompassing
ratification of the Istanbul Convention on Violence against women and the adoption of an EU directive against violence against women. ■ Promote the adoption of new objectives, with dedicated targets, concerning persons with disabilities in
the upcoming review of the Europe 2020 strategy, including a specific strategy on employment, social inclusion and poverty reduction of persons with disabilities, based on the experience of the European Youth Guarantee.
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■ Support the mainstreaming of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities into all EU
actions, the ratification by the EU and by all Member States of the Optional Protocol to the Convention. Seek recognition for Irish sign language as well as the development of further supports through EU education and citizenship programmes. ■ Support the adoption of a European Accessibility Act, to ensure that people with disabilities and with
limited mobility (such as the elderly) have access on an equal basis with others to buildings and the physical environment, to transport and to information and communication services, a directive on the accessibility of public sector websites, a directive on discrimination outside employment (including on the grounds of disability), greater EU support for accessible transport services and infrastructure, EU initiatives to remove obstacles to the free movement of persons with disabilities and their families, and towards ensuring all EU funds ‘barrier-free’ for persons with disabilities. ■ Promote the use of the 2014-20 Structural and Investment Funds for the provision and adaption of
housing for people with a disability or reduced mobility in order to facilitate independent living. ■ Campaign for the adoption of a comprehensive EU roadmap towards Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and
Intersex people (LGBTI), the strengthening of EU anti-discrimination legislation, including on the grounds of sexual orientation, and the extension of EU legislation to combat all forms of bias-motivated violence, and to protect its victims. ■ Campaign for full implementation of the anti-trafficking directive and for the reduction in the demand
for trafficking, including by adopting the Nordic model which criminalises the purchase of sex.
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■ Promote the use of the 2014-20 Structural and Investment Funds, particularly the European Social Fund
and the European Regional Development Fund to support and expand the implementation in Dublin of the Local Authority Housing Construction Programme, which will see a new social housing programme for the first time in a number of years, to reduce the number of unfinished housing estates in Dublin, and to establish a national programme to reduce the number of boarded-up houses. ■ Promote the use of the Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI) Programme and finance innovative
projects in Dublin tackling homelessness and, using the ESF and the ERDF to build upon past EUsupported initiatives in this field such as the Hope in Stations initiative on homelessness in public transport stations, and the Housing First Europe which promoted mutual learning between local homelessness projects in ten European cities (including Dublin). ■ Promote EU initiatives to support the right to grow and age in good mental and physical health by seeking
to create an age-friendly Dublin, in accordance with the 2013 Dublin Declaration on age-friendly cities and communities. ■ Campaign for a directive on carers’ leave for workers with informal care duties.
■ Work to ensure that Dublin’s credit unions and MABs are involved in the implementation of the new EU
directive, approved by the European Parliament in April 2014, guaranteeing every citizens the right to open a low-cost basic bank account so as to support their work in local communities and to tackle financial exclusion and exploitation by money-lenders. ■ Support the adoption of a European Charter for Voluntary Organisations to provide European legal and
institutional recognition of Dublin’s vibrant voluntary organisations, to facilitate closer cooperation between volunteers in Dublin and across Europe and to facilitate the recognition of volunteers’ time as eligible in-kind co-financing for EU grants. ■ Support the on-line and ‘home-based’ participation of volunteers, as envisaged by the new European
Voluntary Humanitarian Aid Corps approved by the European Parliament in February 2014. ■ Promote the use of the new EU Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund to support the participation and
integration of Dublin’s new communities in and into Irish society. ■ Work with NGOs such at the Immigrant Council of Ireland and Migrants’ Rights Centre Ireland to ensure
the ILO Convention 189 on domestic workers is fully implemented to promote better conditions for domestic workers.
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3. A Liveable Dublin A liveable Dublin for all its residents, long-established, new communities, offers key advantages for all and for job creation, tourism and for foreign investment. To make Dublin a more liveable city I will: ■ Promote the use of the 2014-20 Structural and Investment Funds and programmes such as the Joint
European Support for Sustainable Investment in City Area (JESSICA) to support urban regeneration, to expand the Living Cities initiative in Dublin, and to implement the Dublin Public Realm strategy. ■ Seek continued EU and EIB funding, including through the new Project Bonds initiative under the
Connecting Europe Facility, to meet Dublin’s ICT, energy and transport infrastructural needs. ■ Promote the use of the 2014-20 Structural and Investment Funds, Connecting Europe Facility, CIVITAS and
European Investment Bank funding to develop sustainable transport particularly low-carbon transport and commuter options, including cycling infrastructure, the expansion of the public bike scheme, improved safety and reduced traffic congestion in Dublin. ■ Seek to support the Youth Cafes programme begun in 2013 through the European Social Fund, the
Employment and Social Innovation programme and Erasmus+. ■ Continue to press for a European-wide framework on the insurance of natural catastrophes such as floods
and storms, to guarantee insurance cover for all people at risk of damage caused by natural disasters.
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■ Promote the use of the new EU Rights, Citizenship and Equality programme, through which the DAPHNE
programme will be continued, to tackle violence against women, children and young people in Dublin, to support the roll out in Dublin of the ‘Purple Flag’ initiative, the international accreditation scheme for recognising excellence in the night-time management of urban areas by key urban stakeholders, and Dublin’s participation in the UN Safe Cities initiative. ■ Promote sustainable and good urban design in Dublin, including the Pivot Dublin initiative, as part of the
implementation of the EU’s emerging ‘urban agenda’. ■ Promote the development of Dublin’s sporting facilities through the EU’s emerging sports role and the
new Erasmus+ programme and the development of a Dublin Bay Amenity Plan promoting the use of Dublin Bay for water sports. ■ In the context of the European Charter of Local Self-Government, I will support the drafting of legislation
on any proposed referendum on a possible directly-elected mayor for Dublin. ■ Address the issue of noise pollution in Dublin within the context of the 2014-15 EU evaluation of the
environmental noise directive, and the EU follow-up to this evaluation. ■ Support the swift implementation in Ireland of the new EU regulation, approved by the European
Parliament in April 2014, to limit airport and aircraft noise at large EU airports such as Dublin airport. ■ Promote the use of the 2014-20 Structural and Investment Funds to develop linear parks and along
walking routes and rivers and to promote a connected city-wide network of green walkways. ■ Promote the development of more community gardens, allotments and farmers markets in Dublin.
■ Promote the use the new EU Justice Programme to support initiatives in Dublin, particularly those
involving local communities, to tackle the drugs problem and to support the implementation of the EU 2013-20 Drugs Strategy, which seeks to reduce both drug demand and drug supply. ■ Promote the take up of the provisions in the new directive on the freezing and the confiscation of crime
proceeds on the social re-use of seized assets, as has been piloted successfully in other Member States such as Italy, in order to promote social investments in communities damaged by crime. ■ Seek to ensure synergies with the EU health programme, which aims to reduce drug-related health
damage, and anti-drugs initiatives supported by the new EU Internal Security Fund.
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4. A Smart and Sustainable Dublin ■ Promote the use of the 2014-20 Structural and Investment Funds to give full effect to the Programme for
Government’s commitments on the provision of treated water for householders and to introduce comprehensive water conservation to provide the Dublin with a reliable supply of treated water, without imposing an inordinate burden on householders. ■ Seek to put in place comprehensive European resource-reduction, product and waste policies. ■ Promote greater EU support for
initiatives aimed at reducing food waste, such as Food Cloud, and the development of the infrastructure for a food bank in Dublin. ■ Promote the development of a
Dublin coastal protection strategy, including to address the issue of coastal erosion, through the 2014-20 Structural and Investment Funds and the new directive on maritime spatial planning and integrated coastal zone management, approved by the European Parliament in April 2014. ■ Promote the use of the 2014-20
Structural Funds to promote green infrastructure including natural water retention measures to address issues such as water management, connecting Natura 2000 areas, flood risk, protecting biodiversity, adapting to climate change and supporting sustainable development of Dublin’s agricultural and horticultural areas. ■ Seek greater EU support to implement the Covenant of Mayors’ renewable energy and energy
efficiency commitments in Dublin and to support the work of Codema, Dublin’s Energy Agency, to promote energy efficiency and renewable energy. ■ Support the adoption of ambitious, binding EU emissions reduction, renewable energy and energy
efficiency targets for 2030 and to ensure that that these are translated into binding national targets, in accordance with the Heads of Climate Change Bill published in April 2014, and lead to the adoption of an ambitious climate change strategy for Dublin involving all key stakeholders. ■ Support the swift adoption of higher EU air quality standards, building on the proposals presented by the
European Commission in December 2013 to improve air quality in Dublin. ■ Promote the use of the 2014-30 Structural and Investment Funds to support the expansion of the Better
Energy Homes Schemes in Dublin in order to make homes more energy efficient and cut home heating bills as part of the EU’s Energy Efficiency Plan, and to support the roll-out of energy-generating cooperatives in Dublin, where appropriate.
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5. An Enterprising and Global Dublin Eurostat estimates that the population of the Dublin city region will rise from 1.8 million in 2011 to 2.4 million by 2026. An economically vibrant Dublin city region is essential to Ireland’s overall economic and social health. There is a growing recognition that much of the inward investment that a country can attract is only available to city regions with populations in excess of one million. In this regard, it should be emphasised that the Dublin is competing with city regions in other countries for inward investment, scarce talent and tourism. Dublin’s business community, particularly its small and medium enterprises, are the backbone of Dublin’s economy, and of Ireland’s economy. The more than 10,000 retailers in Dublin are of major economic importance and in terms of social cohesion. It is a sector that has been very badly hit by the economic crisis and the decline in spending power. To support business and retailers and SMEs in particular, I will work to: ■ Support the completion of the European Single Market to provide more opportunities for Dublin’s firms, particularly by supporting the creation of a Digital Single Market; consumers across Europe are still four times more likely to buy online from a business in their own Member State than from one based in another Member State. The creation of a real digital single market would open up enormous opportunities for Dublin’s businesses. ■ Promote access to finance for businesses, especially SMEs, in Dublin, in the €2.3 billion Competitiveness of enterprises and small and medium-sized enterprises (COSME) programme, the €80 billion Horizon 2020 programme, the €1.5 billion, Creative Europe programme, the €800 million Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI), programme (particularly for business start-ups through its Microfinance Facility to micro-entrepreneurs), in the Partnership Contract currently being negotiated with the European Commission to implement the Structural and Investment Funds in Ireland over the 2014-20 period, and from the single SME lending instrument led by the European Investment Bank. ■ Support the development of an Enterprise Forum for Dublin through the COSME programme to consider and promote the needs of Dublin’s business community, particularly micro-businesses. ■ Promote greater awareness in Dublin of the Your Europe service, in order to provide more information on EU and national procedures on starting a business as well as on EU funding opportunities for start-ups in Dublin. ■ Ensure additional EU funding is provided to Dublin’s social enterprise sector including the development of hubs of social enterprises through the 2014-20 Structural and Investment Funds in Ireland, the EaSI programme and through the development of Social Entrepreneurship Funds; support the revision of the statute for a European Cooperative Society to improve EU regulation for Dublin’s social enterprise sector. ■ Support the expansion of the free Wifi scheme launched by Dublin City Council in January 2013 and the development of a universal service obligation in the city for broadband; the provision of broadband should a planning requirement for developments in the city so that broadband is classed as an essential utility. ■ Ensure that the transposition into Irish law of the 2014 procurement directives, is used to make it easier for SMEs in Dublin to bid for public procurement contracts, such as by dividing larger contracts into smaller, more accessible contracts.
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■ Seek greater EU support to Dublin’s SMEs break into new international markets. ■ Reduce and remove any unnecessary and disproportionate administrative burdens arising from EU regulation, whilst safeguarding EU social and environmental standards. ■ Simplify EU VAT rules, for SMEs in particular. ■ Monitor the implementation of the new late payments directive, and press for any necessary revisions to this legislation. ■ Strengthen SOLVIT, the EU's on-line network for tackling problems that citizens encounter regarding the misapplication of EU internal market laws by Member States’ authorities, in order to enable it to better respond to the needs of Dublin’s companies. ■ Ensure Dublin’s tourism potential benefits from the development of the EU’s emerging tourism policy, with a special emphasis on the Irish diaspora, and through the new EU strategy to promote coastal and maritime tourism presented by the European Commission in March 2014. ■ Support the development of a Dublin food tourism strategy, involving all key stakeholders, through this new EU new tourism policy. ■ Seek funding under the €80 billion Horizon 2020 programme on research to promote green business initiatives and the development of ‘green zones’ and ‘green hubs’, to act as networking and incubators spaces for green entrepreneurs and researchers in green business and social enterprise initiatives. ■ Support the expansion of initiatives such as the Start Your Own Business (SYOB) scheme through the European Entrepreneurship action programme, devoting special attention to young people, female entrepreneurs, the elderly, migrants and those at a disadvantage, and aiming to develop start-up services, mentoring, guidance and assistance. ■ Promote the development of entrepreneurship education in Dublin’s schools, vocational training and higher education, including through the European Youth Guarantee and Erasmus for young entrepreneurs. ■ Promote the designation, under EU rules, of areas of Dublin where small and micro-enterprises starting new business activities would be eligible for a range of tax exemptions, as has been done in other Member States such as Italy in the past, and to support the piloting of an empty property scheme to encourage property owners to rent out long-term vacant properties, including to roll out ‘pop-up’ shops. ■ Ensure that Dublin’s retail sector benefits from the follow-up to European Commission’s 2013 Communication on a European Retail Action Plan. ■ Ensure that the follow-up to the European Commission’s forthcoming report on implementation of the Services Directive, due by December 2014, supports and promotes sustainable trading and street markets in Dublin. ■ Support the potential of Dublin’s concentration of hospitals and medical schools through the 2014-20 Structural and Investment Funds and other new EU programmes such as the Health for Growth programme to deliver on key national public health objectives.
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6. A Learning Dublin Progress has been made over the past number of years to reduce Dublin’s early-school leaving rate and to improve literacy and numeracy levels. Ireland is now on course to achieve the ambitious education targets under the Europe 2020 strategy. To promote Dublin as a learning city, I will: ■ Promote the use of the 2014-20 Structural and Investment Funds to further reduce Dublin’s early-school leaving rate and to ensure that more young people in Dublin have a degree or diploma, i.e. beyond Ireland’s agreed education targets the Europe 2020 strategy. ■ Promote improved literacy and numeracy in Dublin through the EU literacy and numeracy strategies and through the 2014-20 Structural and Investment Funds, particularly the European Social Fund, Erasmus+ and the Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI) programme. ■ Support participation of school pupils, college students, teachers, trainers and lecturers in Dublin in Erasmus+. ■ Support the development of a European ‘Up-Skilling’ Guarantee, modelled on the European Youth Guarantee, to promote the up-skilling of workers in Dublin. ■ Building on what is being put in place through European Investment Bank (EIB) funding for 16 primary and secondary schools in Dublin (as part of a €100 million investment into Ireland’s schools), the consolidation of the Dublin Institute of Technology into a single campus at Grangegorman (€110 million), the redevelopment of UCD (€90 million), I will seek further EU and EIB support for Dublin’s primary and secondary schools and third level colleges. ■ Seek support from the 2014-20 Structural and Investment Funds to work with Dublin’s Education and Training Boards to provide high-quality further education and training programmes aimed at helping people find or get back into employment. ■ Support the development of a Europe ‘job-rotation’ programme, based on the best practice of the Nordic countries and modelled on the European Youth Guarantee recommendation so that when a worker in Dublin goes for training that is supported by the EU, a long-term unemployed person receives on the jobtraining in their place. ■ Support greater collaboration and synergies between Dublin’s adult education providers and their counterparts in other European countries both to spread best practice, to ensure effective use is made of scarce resources and to develop outreach centres and distance and online learning. ■ Support the inclusion of the work of volunteers when establishing national systems for the validation of non-formal and informal learning, in line with the 2012 EU recommendation on non-formal and informal learning, and through Europass. ■ Promote the use of the new Rights, Equality and Citizenship programme, to tackle the problem of cyberbullying and to raise internet safety awareness among children and young people in Dublin. ■ Promote Dublin as an international student city that provides benefits for the city and for the students alike and that promotes the development of a longer-term “affinity diaspora” among international students, by bringing together of all key stakeholders, including through the new Erasmus+ programme.
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7. A Creative Dublin Dublin’s Cultural and Creative Sectors (CCS) comprise a patchwork of organisations of different sizes and operating in various fields: architecture, arts and crafts, cultural heritage, design, festivals, film, television, music, visual arts, performing arts, archives, libraries, publishing, and radio, amongst others. Dublin’s CCS should be recognised both for their intrinsic cultural value and for the major contribution they make in promoting social cohesion and cultural and linguistic diversity, and for the very important contribution they make to innovation, growth and jobs, particularly in major urban centres such as Dublin. This ‘double dimension’ of culture, as a set of shared values and as an area of economic activity is the guiding principle for work on these sectors at European level. A 2010 Dublin City Council report estimated that Dublin’s CCS were responsible for up to 10% of the total regional employment and generating total gross added value. As Lord Mayor of Dublin in 2009-2010, I hosted a conference with Dublin’s artistic communities on the theme of the cultural and creative industries and innovation. Dublin’s cultural and creative communities also featured strongly in the report of the Lord Mayor’s Commission on Employment which I initiated and produced during my year in office. To support and promote Dublin’s CCS, I will: ■ Work to ensure that Dublin’s cultural and creative sectors participate and benefit from the EU’s new €1.5 billion Creative Europe programme for the 2014-20 period, in particular by supporting the development of creative hubs where creative talents, businesses, education providers and other support services can meet, discuss, generate ideas, solve problems and avail of entrepreneurial opportunities and supports. ■ Promote the use of the Creative Europe programme to facilitate the use of vacant premises in Dublin by exhibiting artists, as pioneered by the “Space Invaders” initiative in Galway. ■ Promote the use of the Creative Europe programme to develop and protect Dublin’s city and counties’ archives in order to preserve Dublin’s cultural history. ■ Promote the use of the 2014-20 Structural and Investment Funds, Erasmus+ and Creative Europe to promote creativity among Dublin’s young people such as in film, music, photography etc. ■ Promote the use of the 2014-20 Structural and Investment Funds to conserve, transform and rehabilitate Dublin’s industrial heritage. ■ Promote consideration of the merits, and feasibility, of parts of Dublin such as the Historic City of Dublin applying for European Heritage Label status. ■ Promote the development of a cultural tourism strategy for Dublin as part of the implementation of the EU’s new tourism strategy, paying particular attention to engage with national cultural institutions based in Dublin as well as the development of the city district and “historical quarters”.
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Emer Costello MEP Email: emer@emercostello.ie Web: www.emercostello.ie Facebook: www.facebook.com/emercostello Twitter: www.twitter.com/emercostello