Agenda item

_{International Relations and EU Affairs – Extension Report – Mary MacSweeney}

_{Copy of the extension request submitted by Cllr. Freehill and Aidan Sweeny were provided in advance of the meeting in the Mod Gov pack}

_{Mary MacSweeney gave verbal update on the extension request submitted by Cllr. Freehill and Aidan Sweeney.}

_{Comments, Feedback & Questions:}

_{The Chair thanked the presenter and opened the floor for discussion.}

_{Richard Shakespeare advised that he was not in favour of an extension, reasons being were work pressures being put on an already overstretched staffing team. Over 370 working hours, in addition to normal working day, have been spent working on the work programme of the working group including preparatory work in organising and preparing for 7 meetings and 5 workshops and the development of the organisations EU Programme Participation Strategy in a 3 month timeframe.  Staff are currently focusing on providing support to businesses significantly impacted by the global pandemic and economic crisis; through the restart grants, business continuity vouchers, trading on line vouchers and the new Fáilte Ireland grants scheme.  In addition to this the main priorities are the City Recovery Strategy and the setting up of the EU Programmes Office.  Staffing resources are not in place to take on any further work.}

_{Objections were made by Cllr. Freehill to this and a robust conversation took place. In addition, Cllr. Freehill commented on DCC’s lost international contacts and connectivity and asked why there was no information on Dublin included in the Eurocities website.  Anthony Flynn responded by confirming that DCC have very close albeit virtual contacts with San Jose and Barcelona and the International Office is in existence and operating at full capacity on international matters. Confirmation was provided on the Eurocities website which is currently being developed and is in beta form. Eurocities requested DCC this week to provide content, which is currently being prepared, and will be submitted shortly to Eurocities for uploading on their website; which is going live in August.}

_{The following Councillors/Members were in support of the working group extension request: Cllr. MacDonncha; Cllr. Cooney; Cllr. Batten and Cllr. Deacy. Cllr. Ring was not in particular favour of the extension request; stressing that the economy recovery in the City is very important and suggested that when the new EU Programmes Office was established it could report to this SPC.}

_{Cllr. MacDonncha referred to the Dublin/Belfast Economic Corridor launch which took place in March 2021 and said it was a disgrace that there was no Councillor participation or any Councillor invited to speak at it.  The Chair agreed with this and asked for it to be recorded in the minutes and it was agreed by the Chair that an official complaint by the Councillors would be made to Owen Keegan, Chief Executive, DCC.}

_{After further robust discussions, the Chair stated that one clear framework and one clear objective were required, commenting on the completion of the strategy document and the focus to now be pursuing and implementing the strategy.  The Chair proposed that this item become a Standing Item on this SPC agenda and would be supervised on an ongoing basis and put this forward as a solution.  Members were in agreement with ensuring work progressed on the recovery of the city post pandemic. The Chair moved forward on this basis.}