Ennis recently hosted the 3rd meeting of the ECONNECTING network, the central themes of which were "Good Governance and Ennis as a hub-city" and “Funding the 30-Minute Territory”. Over the course of two days, participants discussed the good practices implemented and planned by Ennis and exchanged ideas to face their local challenges.
Physical and digital hubs in Clare County
The morning’s proceedings were kicked off by welcoming addresses from the local elected representatives. Both the Cathaoirleach of Clare County Council, Councillor Joe Cooney, and the Mayor of Ennis, Councillor Pat Daly, commended the group for their focus on connecting urban and rural communities. They wished the group a pleasant stay in County Clare and congratulated them on their work.
The theme of the first day’s sessions was “Good Governance and Ennis as a hub city”, and Seán Lenihan, senior engineer for Ennis Municipal District, kicked off proceedings by setting the context for the role of local government. Next up were Nadia Carboni and Roland Krebs to give the URBACT perspective. This was followed by presentations on recent progress and plans for development in Ennis by Carmel Kirby and Candace Ingram of Clare County Council and by Kevin Corrigan of Ennis 2040 DAC.
The second part of the morning sessions focused on the theme of connecting rural and urban areas in the context of Ennis. There were lively discussions on the challenges facing Ennis in establishing more sustainable transport systems, both within the town and in the surrounding hinterland. These discussions were punctuated by presentations on the national and local perspectives on sustainable transport solutions from John Nott of the National Transport Authority, and Anne Gaughan of TFI Local Link Limerick Clare, respectively.
The team then implemented its own sustainable transport solution, boarding a bus to Lahinch in the west of Clare County Council’s area for lunch, with the Clare County Council team providing some impromptu presentations on their roads projects and planning systems en route. A highlight of the trip for the group was their next visit to the Cliffs of Moher UNESCO Global Geopark. Mark O’Shaughnessy, head of operations at the Cliffs of Moher Experience, spoke to the group about the balancing act required to respect and benefit the local community while also catering to ever-growing numbers of tourists and visitors.
The next stop on the bus back to Ennis was the market town of Ennistymon to visit the Ennistymon Digital Hub. Urban McMahon of Clare County Council provided a tour of the facility and explained the success of the digital hubs in facilitating remote workers and greater access to IT facilities. the project is called Digiclare and it aims providing flexible, affordable and local office facilities and high-speed broadband connectivity in rural locations in County Clare. The team then settled down to a poster session on the URBACT goals, planning areas and draft actions. Before long it was time to take the bus back to Ennis to wind down a productive first day.
Funding the 30-Minute Territory
The morning session on day two was focused on funding for the projects that will contribute to the goals of ECONNECTING. This session was provided by a European funding expert, Mr Miguel Sousa, CEO of Inova Business. All the team members made a big effort to share best practices in securing funding and pointing out different funding streams to help support the changes they want to make. A big takeaway for the group was the importance of having specialised people in place in each team to work on securing funding and to keep abreast of the constantly changing funding opportunities.
These discussions provided much food for thought for all the partner countries. Great progress was made in fleshing out the ideas that would work best for different partners and the team was left with a lot of homework to report on ahead of their next meeting in Greece in two months’ time. After firming up the next steps the team finished the day with a presentation from Shane O’Grady of Clare County Council on the ongoing public realm works in Ennis. This was before Senator Róisín Garvey joined the team live from a tram in Dublin city centre as she travelled via public transport from the national Parliament to join the team for dinner in Ennis near her hometown. The Senator spoke about the need for a modal shift in transport use in areas like Ennis and expressed her support for initiatives like URBACT.
With the day’s exercises and presentations wrapped up, it was time for another sustainable transport demonstration as the Clare County Council team arranged a historical walking tour of Ennis. After an enjoyable and informative run through local and Irish history the delegates all assembled for a farewell dinner. They were able to reflect on a successful third transnational meeting and all parties were already looking forward to the next get together in Greece from 19th to 21st June.