I am very glad to participate in this launch of the iCommunity project report by The Wheel and the Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action.
I want firstly to acknowledge Deirdre Garvey, who will be moving on in a few months and has been the hugely able and energetic CEO of The Wheel since 2000;
Bringing the network from its earliest days through to today, where The Wheel is a voice, a connector and a multiplier of the vital work of more than 2,000 community sector and charity organisations.
I’ve always greatly enjoyed meeting and working with Deirdre over the years. You are a tireless champion for all of your members in The Wheel and an inspirational advocate for the positive power of citizens in our society.
I am sure that you will continue to provide that leadership in your new role, working with your countless colleagues and friends across the voluntary sector across our island and beyond.
And it is brilliant to see so many people here this afternoon - reflecting the diversity and vibrancy of the community and voluntary sector, and of social enterprises and charities.
Your iCommunity project is an important contribution to the Government’s Shared Island initiative, through which we are engaging with all communities and political traditions to build consensus around a shared future, underpinned by the Good Friday Agreement.
We are doing this by:
- Taking forward an agenda for more ambitious, impactful cooperation with the Northern Ireland Executive and British Government, through the framework of the Good Friday Agreement; focused on addressing the major shared challenges for this island;
- Seeking new opportunities to cooperate and invest across our borders and communities, including through our €1billion Shared Island Fund;
- Deepening understanding of the whole island in economic, social, cultural and political terms, through a major and unprecedented programme of published research;
- And, by fostering the space - including through our Shared Island Dialogue series - to look to the future on this island in a positive way, that doesn’t compromise anyone’s identity or aspirations - unionist, nationalist or neither.
I remember when I launched our Shared Island initiative almost two years ago - just up the hill in Dublin Castle - Deirdre Garvey participated and spoke of the readiness of community and voluntary organisations to provide leadership in this endeavor.
Of your unique capacity to facilitate inclusive, practical, meaningful ways for communities to interact and collaborate around shared challenges.
Deirdre said memorably, that for civil society: “the building of consensus and respect for diversity through dialogue and engagement is our very DNA.”
I said that day that the Government would work with The Wheel and the Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action to support a new, iconic project;
To help bring civil society and communities together, and work in common cause around shared concerns.
Because that is the very essence of what I what was trying to achieve in establishing the Shared island initiative.
So, it is hugely welcome that in the time since:
- The ambitious iCommunity project was developed by The Wheel and NICVA;
- You secured support through the Reconciliation Fund of the Department of Foreign Affairs and my Department’s Shared Island unit;
- The Northern Ireland Executive also supported the project. And I want to welcome that Minister for Communities, Deirdre Hargey MLA, is here today and will be contributing;
- And, as set out in today’s report, the iCommunity project has delivered an impressive and intensive first year of engagement.
Today is a moment to acknowledge this progress and all of the hard work involved;
To hear reflections and consider the recommendations in this report;
And, to look ahead to a continuing strong role for this project and for the community and voluntary sector in our Shared Island approach and in shaping the future of this island.
Good Friday Agreement
As we do that, it is worth remembering the centrality of civic engagement to the Good Friday Agreement.
It refers to civil society’s “vital role in consolidating peace and political agreement”.
Recognising that building peace and making progress on reconciliation is always fundamentally about people:
- About how we listen to; understand and accommodate each other across our different communities;
- And, how we co-create an inclusive, prosperous, promising future on this island - however that is constituted.
The Agreement also includes important provisions for a Civic Forum in Northern Ireland and a North/South Consultative Forum.
These are supposed to complement and support the power-sharing and North South political institutions, but are not currently implemented.
The Government does not lose sight of these civic provisions and will keep engaging with all parties to build the consensus needed to get these key elements of the Agreement in place.
And, at this time, the need for a strong voice and role for civil society - in all its dimensions and diversity - in the Peace Process could not be clearer:
- To help keep focus on the imperative of getting a new power-sharing Executive formed and the North South Ministerial Council meeting again, without any further delay.
We are seeing a denial of the mandate given by the people in the Northern Ireland Assembly election last May.
This has to be addressed by everyone in a position of responsibility, to get the Executive in place again, and working for everyone’s interests in Northern Ireland. This is all the more pressing as we face into a difficult and economically challenging winter.
So many in civil society in the North are also helping to make the case for finding jointly-agreed EU-UK solutions around the implementation of the Protocol.
To resolve genuine concerns of people and businesses, while maximising the benefits of the Protocol for all in Northern Ireland, and I thank you for it.
With the right political will, I have no doubt that solutions can be found on the issues around implementation of the Protocol.
There is an opportunity now to inject fresh impetus into EU-UK discussions, and the Government will keep working to support that.
- It is essential also that civil society keeps contributing to the repairing and reinvigorating of relationships across our communities and borders.
To help get beyond the challenges and strains that Brexit has raised in recent years;
And move on to a more productive agenda. Squarely focused on making this island a better place, for all communities.
On all of these issues, there are roles and responsibilities for political leaders in Northern Ireland to live up to, and for the two Governments, as co-guarantors of the Agreement.
As Taoiseach, I promise you that the Irish Government will play our part, and keep working sincerely in support of all of the Institutions, principles and commitments of the Good Friday Agreement.
We will do so, interacting with and listening to civil society and communities, across all traditions on this island.
iCommunity project
It is in this sensitive and, at times, contested and challenging social and political context that the iCommunity project has operated successfully over the last year:
- Focusing on building on existing connections and scoping out means for new and sustainable links;
- Harnessing the strong desire that is palpable in the community and voluntary sector to work together towards common goals;
- Recognising also that many in civil society have not had the scope or opportunity to look at cross-border cooperation before;
- And, that some in Northern Ireland have genuine concerns or suspicions about all-island interaction, which should be acknowledged and addressed.
Today’s report illustrates the hugely positive dynamic that is there when people North and South simply collaborate - on things that matter for them and their communities.
Like developing social enterprise; working for just transition; and advancing digital inclusion.
It was heartening to read that when people were asked for their views after iCommunity workshops on these and other common aims, the predominant feeling was ‘hopeful’.
Followed by ‘confident’ and ‘excited’.
We need to nurture and grow that hope, confidence and excitement in our civic relationships on this island.
This is the ‘I’ - Community hub, and reading today’s report, there are four i’s associated with the project that particularly strike me:
Inclusivity; innovation; impact; and, initiative.
- Your inclusive Community hub is one that has worked to involve people from all traditions and backgrounds on the island.
Importantly, also including ethnic minority communities - both new and long-standing - who comprise significant parts of our society, both North and South.
Their perspectives and experiences help to inform and enrich how we look at our relationships across the board on this island.
- And, this is an innovative Community hub, which has impressively navigated challenges of the pandemic, of geographic distance and of diverse starting points in communities.
Employing new and creative means, both online and in-person:
To help develop shared narratives on the ‘why’ of cross-border cooperation;
And to work from common goals through to specific actions, to substantiate the ‘how’ and the ‘what’ of collaboration.
- This is also an impact-oriented Community. Dealing with topics that have real significance for people’s lives, and a strong basis for cross-border interaction.
- And, clearly it is a Community hub with huge initiative:
Fostering new partnerships between community and voluntary groups, charities and social enterprises;
Truly, the iCommunity hub reflects the unique convening and consensus-building capacity of the community and voluntary sector.
iCommunity Recommendations
I’d like to conclude with a few words on the recommendations in today’s report, and how they inform our Shared Island initiative.
The project makes recommendations across 5 thematic areas.
- On the Climate Change and Biodiversity crises, the need for support for scaling up of community-led solutions is highlighted.
This has also been a strong message coming through from our Shared Island Dialogue series; and in the work of the National Economic and Social Council.
I see it secured most attention in the iCommunity workshops, as a “powerful and tangible opportunity for all-island collaboration”.
The Government agrees fully and we are responding to this through our Community Climate Action Programme.
The second major strand will launch this year, and will now include a specific cross-border dimension, enabled by an allocation of €3m from the Government’s Shared Island Fund, with at least half of the funding going to project delivery in the North.
Supporting Local Authorities to step up climate action by working with communities.
This will remain a major focus for Government in our Shared Island approach.
- iCommunity is also making recommendations on the themes of Social Enterprise, Rural Development and Digital inclusion.
Emphasising opportunities for deeper collaboration and networking.
These themes were also explored in a lively Shared Island Dialogue in Monaghan in May convened by Minister for Rural and Community Development, Heather Humphreys TD, with over 200 stakeholders from North and South.
In follow up, the Government is looking to deepen our cooperation in these areas.
In particular, looking at how we could roll out Connected Hubs on collaborative North/South basis, as effective enablers of rural regeneration, social enterprise and for digital inclusion.
- The iCommunity project has made conclusions also on recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic, and I would like to acknowledge and pay tribute to the massive, and truly heroic, contribution of the community and voluntary sector and of charities across this island.
The positive impact, innovations and insights of the sector through the course of the pandemic will rightly now be central to how public policy for full societal recovery is shaped.
- And finally, I want to refer to the cross-cutting recommendations from the project.
These focus on the significant untapped potential of all-island civic interaction.
The specific recommendations made warrant consideration and reflection.
That will be undertaken as all Government Departments work now to develop new policy, investment and cooperation initiatives, as part of our Shared Island initiative.
Already, in developing the PEACEPLUS programme - funded by the European Union, UK Government, Irish Government and the Executive - we have made provision for a new theme.
To support citizen-level cooperation around shared challenges on a cross-border basis.
This will provide at least €20m in funding over the six years of the programme.
And, the Government is also going to introduce a new Shared Island civil society funding scheme this year.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney TD, will open the first pilot call for applications later this month.
This new scheme will complement the vital work supported through the Government’s Reconciliation Fund, which has been doubled in recent years.
And I am pleased that iCommunity has recently been awarded a Reconciliation Fund grant for the next phase of your work.
Conclusion
The spirit, energy and connection to people’s lives that is innate to civil society interaction - part of your very DNA - is fundamental to how we deepen our relationships across the different communities and political traditions of this island.
It is how we can all come to see and know each other not by old, sterile community labels or colours;
But by contemporary, compelling, shared community goals and achievements.
The simple power of connections between people is fundamental to realizing the full potential of the Peace Process. This is the what the iCommunity hub is contributing so much to.
Taking the hopeful, exciting, confident next steps in the journey of reconciliation we continue on this island, founded on the Good Friday Agreement.
Go raibh míle maith agaibh.
Ends