Past Events
European Citizens' Consultations Conference
On Friday 20 November 2009, 100 people from all over Europe will be coming to Dublin in the final phase of the European Citizens' Consultations. This initiative saw over 1600 randomly selected citizens from all 27 EU member states sit down together, and draw up 15 practical recommendations about the economic and social future of Europe. The citizens then presented these to the leaders of the European Union during a two day summit in Brussels in May.
For this, the second phase of the consultations, five regional debates took place across the EU, bringing MEPs, citizens and stakeholders together to turn these recommendations in to proposed legislation. The two recommendations to be discussed at the Dublin conference in Farmleigh focused on social welfare and social inclusion; issues which have become more relevant than ever over the last year, and this conference will provided a platform for citizens, stakeholders and EU and government representatives to work together to provide practical solutions to these problems in a highly interactive setting.
Click here to download Hugh Frazer's presentation
Click here to view more photographs
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All photography provided by Keith Jack www.keithjackphotography.com
Launch of the Green Book
In November 2009, we launched ‘The Green Book: A very handy book if you happen to an Irish stagiaire living in Brussels’ at an informal reception in Brussels, hosted by our Chairman, Maurice Pratt. This inaugural event saw a number young people working across the institutions and Irish-European officials turn out to mingle and share experiences.
As part of our work in building a network of pro-Europeans, we plan on making this event a bi-annual fixture in our events calendar.
These events are designed to provide an informal setting in which the Irish network in Europe can meet up and welcome in the new Irish interns every six months. We will be providing updated versions of The Green Book at these events as these new interns embark on their Brussels experience.
- For a selection of photographs from the event click on the thumbnails below.
- Click here for more information on The Green Book.
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The Lisbon Treaty - Our 'Just the Facts' campaign
On Friday 2 October 2009, 59% of Ireland’s population voted on the Lisbon Treaty, and passed the Treaty with a resounding 67.1%. This was the most votes cast in a European referendum and the most votes ever given in favour of an EU Treaty. Now it is up to the Polish and Czech to see what is going to happen next with the Lisbon Treaty.
For our part, we were delighted that people concentrated on the facts of the Treaty not the fiction. For our ‘Just the Facts’ campaign, we ran a number of information events around the country, giving our “EU in 20 Minutes” presentation to a range of colleges and social groups and also getting on the radio to answer people’s questions and clear up the facts on what really is in the Treaty. Along with these events we developed a series of 20 fact sheets which explain how the Treaty came about, what is in it and also tackling some of the most common issues and concerns that surrounded the referendum campaigns. We also sent out a daily email to thousands of people so that they could make up their own mind on what was real and what was not.
If you are interested in taking a look back at the referendum, you can check our Lisbon poster page, where we have collected some of the posters which you would have seen plastered across the country in the run up to October 2. And while the Lisbon Treaty campaigns may have come to an end, the EU continues on with its work, and so do we. So if you have any questions about the EU that you would like answered, send them in to us.
Europe Day 2009 in Galway
On Saturday 9 May 2009 and to the surprise and bewilderment of locals, European Movement Ireland flash mobbed the streets of Galway city to celebrate Europe Day. After inconspicuously mingling with the public at three busy Galway city spots, Shop Street, Eyre Square Shopping Centre and High street, the 30 volunteers, at the blow of a whistle, froze amongst the passers-by who were left looking slightly bemused and unsure what to do.
After 20 seconds and upon shouting “Europe Day 2009” and revealing t-shirts with “ Got questions on Europe?” they took a fresh straight talking and jargon free approach to explaining what the EU does and took questions from the public and attempted to debunk the myths that often cloud the debate surrounding the EU and what it does.
The purpose of this event in Galway was to stimulate debate amongst people on the street and get the facts and truth about Europe across without a political agenda. The volunteers from European Movement Ireland were met with a range of questions from people simply wanting to know what the EU does, and from people with serious concerns over fishing quotas, CAP, and the Lisbon Treaty.
Appearance before the Oireachtas Subcommittee
European Movement Ireland made and appearance before the Oireachtas Cub-Committee on "Ireland's Future in the EU" on November 20.
Click here to view our discussion on the reasons behind a lack of public, media and political engagement with the EU and measures that could be taken to improve this.
(Clip courtesy of the Oireachtas.)
The Sub-Committee was set up following the outcome of the Lisbon Treaty Referendum, to figure out the challenges facing Ireland post Lisbon, and to consider and allow for an open debate on Ireland’s future relationship with the EU.
Off The Rails
The Off the Rails Live show is Ireland’s largest ladies fashion event and over 30,000 people, the majority of them being women, attended the event over 3 days.
2008 was the second year that the European Movement Ireland took part in RTE’s Off the Rails event in the RDS, Dublin. We set up a mini couch corner at the stand and offered people a chance to sit down, relax and have a cup of tea. This was also an opportunity for us to chat with people about Europe and to answer their questions about the EU and what is going on with the Lisbon Treaty.
National Ploughing Championships
The National Ploughing Championships is Ireland’s largest agricultural exhibition and one of Europe’s primary agricultural events. In 2008 the attendance at the exhibition crushed all previous records with over 200,000 people attending the event over all. The audience comprises mainly farmers and their families from all around Ireland and from every age group.
At the 2008 National Ploughing Championships, European Movement Ireland conducted a survey to assess people’s attitudes toward Europe, in particular those of the farming community. We gained some very interesting feedback and were also asked a number of questions we were able to answer either directly at our stall, or in follow up to the event.
The Lisbon Treaty Debates
EMI developed and successfully organised a series of informative and interactive discussions on the Lisbon Treaty in third-level institutes and multinational companies around Ireland in 2008. The format was simple – we sourced and provided recognised speakers from both Yes and No sides who presented their arguments in a short debate, which was followed by a question and answer session open to all employees present. In total we completed 24 events. Among our speakers were Minister Dick Roche, EU Ambassador John Bruton, Pat Cox, Ruairi Quinn TD, Enda Kenny TD, Garret FitzGerald, Jan O’Sullivan TD, and Professor Brigid Laffan.
In addition to the debates, we devised and circulated a simple 8 page booklet that put forward the arguments for and against Lisbon.