Wednesday 11th  March, 2009 at 1 pm City Hall, Dame Street, Dublin 2, The Lord Mayor Eibhlin Byrne will formally open The European Works Photography Exhibition  in the presence of Dr. Garret FitzGerald, Chancellor of the NUI and former Taoiseach, Michael D. Higgins, Karolina Szmagalska, Fintan O’Toole, and Hugo Hamilton Chester Beatty Library.

“This Exhibition gives us an unique opportunity to share in the life and culture of our European neighbours” said Lord Mayor, Eibhlin Byrne.

The Office for Integration of Dublin City Council, Notre Europe and Agence VU’ will host a discussion forum at 9am, 11th March in Dublin Castle, on Integration and Identities in Europe

 
ENDS

For Further information please contact: Declan Hayden,  Assistant Community Development Officer : 086 815 0336 or Dublin City Council Press Office: (01) 2222170 / 086 8150010.

Notes To The Editor
The Forum will be introduced by Dr. Garret FitzGerald, Chancellor of the National  University of Ireland and former Taoiseach. It will proceed with a series of lectures which discuss the shifting forms and contemporary meanings of European belonging, as seen from Ireland. This morning session will be held in the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin Castle from 9am –12.30 pm.

This discussion will be followed by the formal opening of the European Works photography exhibition by the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Eibhlin Byrne, at 1pm, at City Hall, Dame Street. This exhibition presents images and stories collected in six emblematic European cities by the researchers of Notre Europe and the photographers of Agence VU’. Thus Dublin is one of the six milestones of a European journey which also takes us to Lódz, Malmö, Timisoara, Turin, and Belgrade.

Integration: A City Dialogue
The Office for Integration of Dublin City Council will then hold a round table aimed at fostering the dialogue on integration at the city level (2.30pm – 4.30pm, Chester Beatty Library, Dublin Castle). It will gather all the stakeholders who are facilitating the integration of the immigrant population in Dublin city.

This roundtable will outline the progress made to date on the development of integration policy at city level within the overall strategy “Towards Integration – A City Framework”; it will also be an occasion to listen to and explore a range of issues through which we can together further develop and strengthen this process.

The topic’s relevance is only heightened with the economic and social vulnerability of our country now evident, and protectionist temptations potentially re-surfacing. It is appropriate to tackle these issues in the week of the St.Patrick’s Festival, which celebrates our national identity and gives expression to the new diversity of Dublin – a city which is today home to the Poles, Chinese, Lithuanians, and Nigerians as much as it is to the Irish.

Provisional programme

Wednesday 11th March 2009

PART 1

9.00am Register of Participants at Chester Beatty Library, Dublin Castle

9.15am Welcome of guests and speakers

9.25am Introduction of the Forum by Dr. Garret FitzGerald

9.50am Chair introduces the speakers

9.55am Michael D. Higgins : Culture, memory, imagination, migration and the city

10.15am Dr. Karolina Szmagalska Follis – NUI Maynooth : In or out? – Shifting senses of belonging on Europe’s Eastern borderlands

10.35am Fintan O’Toole : Confusion is not an ignoble condition: Contradiction and civility in Europe

10.55am Hugo Hamilton : Outsiders and insiders

11.15am Tea / Coffee Break

11.30am Chair opens the discussion to the floor Panel

Chair, Aziliz Gouez (Notre Europe), speakers

12.20am Chair wraps up and closes the Forum

12.30pm Guests travel from Chester Beatty Library to the City Hall (5 minutes walk)

PART 2

1.00pm Welcome of guests to the European Works photography exhibition City Hall, Dame Street

1.05pm Marc Prüst (Agence VU’) introduces the exhibition

1.10pm Gilles Favier, Photographer, presents his work

1.20pm The Lord Mayor of Dublin, Eibhlin Byrne, formally opens the exhibition

1.30pm Light Lunch

PART 3

2.30pm Integration: A City Dialogue,Chester Beatty Library

Chair
Maria Hegarty (Equality Strategies)

Panel
Gerry Folan – Office of Integration DCC

Anna Ludwenik – European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions

Dr. Mary Murphy – NUI Maynooth

Issah Husseni – New Communities Partnership

Garda Dave McInerney – Garda Racial and Intercultural Office

Philip Watt – Independent Consultant

3.30pm Tea/Coffee Break

4.30pm Conclusion and close