Agenda and minutes

_{Order: Minutes of the previous meeting which took place on 11th February were agreed by Cllr. Freehill and seconded by Cllr. Batten.}

_{Cllr. Freehill requested clarification on Item 2A of the minutes in relation to clarification if negotiations have started with the Department of Finance on the development of the next European Funding Programme 2021 - 2027. Due to the nature on Remote meetings, it was agreed this would be covered in Item 8 below.}

_{Juliet Passmore, Economist, Dublin City Council presented on the Your Dublin Your Voice COVID 19 Survey results which took place during 28th April – 8th May 2020.}

_{Comments, Feedback & questions:}

_{The chair thanked Ms Passmore for her presentation. Cllr Ring commended Ms. Passmore on her presentation and excellent data content. Cllr Ring highlighted a Council question which has been submitted requesting clarification about the representation of population across Dublin within the panel. Cllr Ring also highlighted the level of service provided by Dublin City Council across the pandemic period and opportunities to promote the city council. Ms. Passmore provided clarification on the representation on the panel & clarity on proportionate representation in line with CSO data. It was highlighted Dublin is a very connected city with 95% of households connected to the internet in 2019 CSO data. Whilst there is discrepancies there, with age demographics with 99% of those under 29 frequently on internet, with 70% of those over 60s frequently on internet. Cllr MacDonncha also queried the demographics and advised he would have preferred to see more questions in relation to employment status & impact; along with respondents availing of health services, childcare, noting the sector most impacted by Covid are those not in a position to work from home and are in the retail, hospitality sector and may not have contributed to survey. Ms. Passmore confirmed the panel is open to all public and is recruited through advertisements, social media, newspapers etc and is open to anyone to join. The employment sectors were not captured but we can compare previous surveys & compare. Evanne Kilmurray commended the work on the survey and noted in terms of youth 52% of youth under 25 are unemployed and in relation to St. Pats there are significant enquiries and this is an issue for under 25s and would like to commend the work of the Council on city parks. Cllr Freehill queried the older respondents statistics and noted the isolation of the older population and requested micro level statistics on 2 speed city with people in different situations with digital skills and ensure we do not leave those behind. Inner city gap and need to reduce exclusion on digital sphere. If DCC could gather statistics to ensure more micro level statistics to track 2 speed city we are living in. Ms. Passmore advised the demographic statistics can be extracted from the survey and shared with members. Cllr O Connor thanked Ms. Passmore for her presentation and noted the numerous times the parks department have been commended for their work during the emergency period and noted the great work for Herbert Park also.}

_{Ciara O hAodha, Senior Economic Development Officer presented on the Dublin City Economic Recovery Strategy.}

_{Comments, Feedback & questions:}

_{The chair thanked Ms O hAodha for her presentation and commended the Economic Development team, LEO team and all departments across the City Council for their work, dedication and flexibility during the emergency period. Cllr Rachel Batten queried the numbers of applications received for date and turn-around time for the Restart grant administered by the Finance Department. Richard Shakespeare confirmed 20% of rate payers had applied for the Restart grant and advised there have been significant marketing campaigns by central government and DCC to promote the initiative. There is a responsibility on businesses to apply as the LA have put all the tools in place to deal with large volume of applications. The turnaround time is between 1.5 – 2 weeks with 3,200 applications received to date. Aidan Sweeney noted the quality of the presentation and highlighted there would be an ongoing engagement needed between the city council and central government in terms of pushing for government supports for restarting enterprise in the city. He noted the Restart grant was rushed through government with a lot of pressure on local government, without funding being available from central government. He noted the 3,200 applications was in line with the national figures but is 16% of rate payers within DCC, and believes there is a communication issue with information on grants available. IBEC has been vocal with SME campaign, notinh €15,000 equivalent in UK & Germany to get business open in other jurisdictions. He noted this will be a recession like no other & economy will reopen in stages & there will be restrictions going forward & rates will be inconsistent. There is a need to be looking at how liquidity for companies are there & believes DCC need to be vocal on what is needed in the July Stimulus package to support enterprise in city to continue. Richard Shakespeare highlighted the Local Government Management Agency (LGMA) and City & County Managers Association (CCMA) are actively examining the funding mechanisms for the local government sector, and noted a fundamental shift probably will have to take place, It was also noted, whilst DCC are the largest LA in the country, one of 31 which needs to lobby for government support for the sector ,DCC we are often overlooked even though DCC are at the front line of delivering most of the services that the vast majority of citizens enjoy. Odran Reid thanked Ms. O hAodha for the detailed presentation & noted how DCC have been commendable in their immediate interventions – small but very significant actions, especially the capacity to administer the high volume of applications and can see the difference it has made. Odran noted the difficulty is this will be with us for a long time & the city will be very different with a number of industries in trouble, and there is a need to look at what we want the city to look like post 2023. There is an  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.}

_{Deiric Ó Broin, DCU and Eoin Magennis, University of Ulster presented on the Dublin – Belfast Economic Corridor Final Report June 2020.}

_{Comments, Feedback & questions:}

_{The chair thanked both Mr. Ó Broin and Mr. Magennis for the thought provoking and insightful presentation and the group welcome their input and appreciate this linkage. Odran Reid noted this is the best conceptual approach so far and welcomes the notion of a corridor. It was noted the need for definable action as part of a strategy and the idea of cross border is vital but BREXIT & COVID will have a significant impact and will be problematic for the development of the corridor. Cllr MacDonnacha thanked the presenters and noted the impact of COVID on the island, and that this initiative is hugely important. Cllr MacDonnacha queried if there is any standing group and political involvement in the groupings across the 8 Local Authorities? Cllr Cooney noted the inclusion of climate change & flood defence mitigation in the report and queried if there would be more elaboration on this and more benefits to climate action to encourage people to stay on the island to holiday particularly with the current COVID impact and transport improvements between Dublin & Belfast. Also queried if there was a cultural connect on the group and there is a strong link between culture & economy & whether there could be involvement from the cross border agencies. Aidan Sweeney emphasised COVID response, BREXIT and the increased impact on the corridor and what this might be and how this is articulated. In comparison with Belfast City, Aidan Sweeney advised Dublin City & Fingal have not yet developed a grand plan for Dublin and felt there is a need for a workshop for Dublin on the RSES, sustainable infrastructure and identify what does Dublin need & what is Dublin’s vision as Belfast is ahead of the game here. The opportunity here is for Dublin to bring together economic, social and cultural entities together. Cllr Roe queried if any discussion or research has been done on suggestions has been made for moving Dublin port northwards which would free up additional land and creating another hub along the corridor between the two end points.}

_{Cllr Freehill noted Dublin needs to drive this initiative more and has encouraged Dublin City Council and Belfast City Council to work together previously. Cllr Freehill also noted the implications of BREXIT and queried what do would be needed on both sides to ensure collaboration cross border.}

_{Clarifications:}

_{Mr. O Brien provided an overview of the governance of the group to date with Chief Executives of each local authorities meeting quarterly and Director of Services level meeting quarterly and have been a very positive development to date. Infrastructure developments is more about regularity and frequency rather than speed. Mr. Magennis reiterated the regularity service is more prudent than speed and Irish Rail and Translink are currently looking at this. This is evident in the transformation of the Dublin Cork rail service. Dublin Port was not discussed as  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.}

_{Mary MacSweeney advised on the summit series and how the Summit Series 2020 subject matter was agreed at the February SPC as Climate & Business – Sustainability in Business / Green Business. In response to the COVID19 economic crisis, the subject matter will be amended to the COVID19 Economic Recovery through Sustainability. It is proposed to host this event in November. Dependent on the reopening programme, it is envisaged to hold a physical event with a potential streaming element but will be in line with government guidelines at that time. This will be reviewed regularly in response to the reopening HSA guidelines. Updates will follow in the coming months.}

_{The chair advised the DEM May edition was circulated on soft copy and that if anyone requested physical copies to direct all queries regarding DEM to Juliet Passmore.}

_{Mary MacSweeney provided an update on both SPC Working Groups}

_{Proposed working group held their initial scoping meeting to discuss proposed work programme on 9th June. This had been arranged for March but had to be postponed as a result of COVID19 government guidelines. An invitation has issued to Fáilte Ireland, requesting if they wish to nominate a person to join the group. The members will partake in a remote Night Time Economy Forum on 26th June, organised between Arts and The Economic Development Office and a member from Manchester advising on Night Time Economy over there. The next meeting of the proposed working group will take place on 8th July. Cllr Cooney thanked Mary and team for the actions so far on the Tourism, City Markets including Night Time Economy.}

_{Mary MacSweeney advised the proposed working group held their initial scoping meeting to discuss proposed work programme on 3rd March. A review progress meeting was scheduled for April but was postponed as a result of COVID19 government guidelines. This review meeting was held on 18th June in review of the significant impact of COVID19 on international relations & European affairs. Eastern Midland Regional Assembly and European Investment Bank have been invited to present to the working group in July. Once they have received correspondence on availability they can finalise dates and go forward from there. It was noted Item 2A of the February SPC minutes was discussed at the proposed working group meetings on 3rd March and 18th June. Cllr Freehill requested that an International Relations & EU Affairs meeting be held in July.}

_{It was advised all details will be formally considered and agreed at the next meeting of the Corporate Policy Group (CPG) meeting for both working groups on the 26th June 2020.}

a.    International Relations

b.    Local Enterprise Office

c.     Dublin.ie

d.    Economic Development Office

e.    Smart Dublin and Smart Cities

_{International Relations}

_{Grainne Kelly gave a brief update to the committee she stated that all trips/delegations had been cancelled due to the global pandemic and also noted that the Chinese Ambassador donated 30,000 facemasks to DCC, which were being distributed by the store’s manager to workers.}

_{Local Enterprise Office}

_{Greg Swift updated on the LEO activity and noted the LEO has been providing services throughout the emergency period whilst working remotely to the business community. Greg noted many points were covered in Ciara O hAodha presentation but highlighted the large numbers of participants in training and mentoring programmes with 2,200 participants in online web training courses, already completing as many courses in the first 6 months of 2020 as were completed in 12 months last year. Business Continuity Vouchers and Trading Online Vouchers have received significant applications as part of the recovery mechanisms for businesses across the city. St. Stephens Green school won the National final for the Student Enterprise competition which saw 1600 school students were involved in Dublin City initiative.}

_Dublin.ie

_{Mary MacSweeney advised of the team’s involvement on the promotion to support local business which can be seen throughout the city and also the key learnings from Belfast and Limericks place brand.}

_{Economic Development Office}

_{Mary MacSweeney advised on the ongoing work and mentioned in particular the Enterprise challenge and Green waste initiatives.}             

_{Smart Dublin and Smart Cities}

_{Nicola Graham gave an update on Smart Dublin and Smart Cities ongoing work and multiple projects. A new tourism collaboration with Fáilte Ireland is in its final stages of agreement, which will assist the tourism sector in the COVID19 recovery.}

        _{Comments, Feedback & questions:}

_{Cllr Cooney requested on the accessibility and future arrangements of remote working spaces. Greg Swift advised remote working is evolving especially during these times; the GEC, SPADE and co working spaces are closed at moment due to Covid 19, but hopefully further scope to open up more hubs in the future, and the team are looking at a feasibility study on remote working also.}

Next SPC Meeeting: 8^th Sept 2020 (3.30pm-5.30pm)

_{It was noted the next meeting date has changed from original Agenda as physical venue availability is required. This will be a physical meeting with social distancing requirements implemented.}

_{Next SPC Meeting: 15th Sept 2020 (3.30pm – 5.30pm) Council Chamber, City Hall}

_{Action items for Progression:}