15.10.2009
Calls For Ideas/Action
Against a backdrop of rising unemployment and the continuing economic recession, the Lord Mayor Cllr. Emer Costello and City Council members are developing an agenda for the coming year that prioritises jobs and the protection of existing employment in a City that makes the most of the talents of its citizens.
One of the central mechanisms to progress this agenda is the establishment of the Lord Mayor’s Commission on Employment. It is intended that all the political parties and independents in the City Council, together with the communities they represent will take ownership of the Commission. It will engage in wide-ranging consultation The Commission will communicate and engage with the people who are most experiencing the impact of the current economic recession and will do so in a meaningful way that sustains its operation well beyond the term of office of the current Lord Mayor.
The work of the Commission will link with and promote the delivery of a range of economic and social reports including the recently launched Economic Development Action Plan for the Dublin City Region. It is intended that the outputs of the Commission will help inform the policies of the new Dublin City Development Plan (2011-2016) and will also contribute to the work of the Strategic Policy Committees.
Aim
The Commission will examine how economic renewal and employment growth in the city can be better promoted by a range of agencies including the City Council. The Commission will identify and make recommendations for actions in the key areas of: (1) Unemployment & Employment, (2) Business, Entrepreneurship & Finance, (3) Education Skills and Training, and (4) Volunteering & the Social Economy.
Themes and Working Groups
At its inaugural meeting the Commission on Employment agreed four key themes of research :
- Unemployment & Employment,
- Business, Entrepreneurship & Finance
- Education Skills and Training,
- Volunteering & the Social Economy.
Members of the Commission were invited to identify which of the themes they wished to focus on and the following two working groups emerged:
- Working Group 1 : Unemployment, Employment, Business, Entrepreneurship and Finance
- Working Group 2: Education, Skills, Training, volunteering and the Social Economy
The Working Groups may where necessary establish sub-groups to examine specific themes.
Working Group 1: Unemployment & Employment Business, Entrepreneurship & Finance
Objectives
- To profile the nature and extent of the unemployment crisis in local areas, with reference to age, gender, social class etc and with particular emphasis on youth unemployment .
- To identify potential unemployment blackspots and make recommendations for future regeneration approaches and services to unemployed people, including the identification of innovative ideas and approaches that are being tried in other countries/areas.
- To profile employment in Dublin and identify existing or future opportunities for employment creation and enterprise growth.
- To examine the efficacy and efficiency of labour market information systems and media as it functions in a changing technological environment to serve the needs of employers and job seekers at all levels in the recruitment process.
- To explore potential growth sectors such as Green Technology, Creative Industries, R&D, Cultural/ Tourism / Heritage enterprise and Retail.
- To identify areas of low economic activities and explore possible strategies for developing enterprise in these areas
- To identify opportunities for the expansion of employment in existing business
- To place a target number of young people in job placements
- To identify the needs of entrepreneurs and small businesses and propose measures that would better facilitate the development of a positive enterprise culture.
- To identify and use case studies as a means of identifying good practice in business, entrepreneurship
- To focus on the current difficulties in access to finance and to identify sources of funding
- To focus on the personal impact unemployment has on people’s lives
Working Group 2: Education, Skills, Training Volunteering & Social Economy
Objectives:
- To identify issues and gaps in the education, skills and training systems to support Dublin’s performance as a hub in the Smart Economy.
- To identify skills shortages and identify immediate measures to ensure training and skills development is responsive to current need and provided in an accessible and timely manner that is targeted to minimise the length of time a person is unemployed.
- To identify the potential for internships/work experience programmes throughout the City
- To identify and use case studies as a means of identifying good practice in the area of training, volunteering and social economy
- To identify the potential of volunteering and its positive role in the economic recession in providing an individual with an opportunity to maintain or update their skill base and make a connection with their community and society.
- To identify the benefit to the exchequer of people being employed through community employment schemes and the social economy
Methodology
The Commission will build on the considerable work and research already carried out in these areas and will focus on bringing forward proposed actions that will address the problems and opportunities.
The Commission will be supported by the executive of Dublin City Council through the auspices of the Assistant City Manager, Planning & Economic Development Department and in particular, the Economic Development Unit of that Department.
The Secretariat will prepare Issues Papers for the Commission and the Working Groups that will summarise reports and issues arising in the four key areas.
Relevant stakeholders will be invited to make presentations with their key recommendations on tackling unemployment and promoting economic development to the Working Groups. The Working Groups will report back to full Commission meetings on progress regarding their consultation. Working Groups may also wish to undertake field trips to certain projects and these will be arranged as required.
Actions arising from the consultations with the stakeholders will be identified and progressed through the Commission.
As well as meetings with the key stakeholders the Commission will invite submissions from members of the public and interested organisations. This Call for Ideas/Action will be widely publicised through a variety of media including print media, internet, emails, social networking etc.
23.04.2010
Lord Mayor’s Commission on Employment Conference
Title: “Dublin – A City that Works”
Date: Friday 23rd April 2010
Venue: Croke Park Conference Centre
Keynote Address: “Cities Innovating for Future Growth”, by Maire Geoghegan-Quinn, European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science
In September 2009 the Lord Mayor’s Commission on Employment put out a public “Call for Ideas” in a bottom up approach to invite the public, business and community-based, to tell their proposals to generate economic activity in the City. The “Call for Ideas” really caught the public imagination and in a short space of time over 120 submissions were received, with many innovative and creative ideas for boosting the City’s economy, creating employment and improving our competitiveness.
The Commission is now finalising its report and recommendations for the future. The LMCE Conference on Friday 23rd April will present and engage the public further on the key themes and ideas emerging from the work of the Commission to address current challenges in employment, enterprise, innovation and education for the future sustainability of Dublin’s economy. In her first speaking engagement in Dublin since her appointment as Commissioner, Maire Geoghegan Quinn will address the conference on the theme of “Cities Innovating for Future Growth.
Full details, including a list of confirmed speakers/panellists, are available on the programme and invitation below. There is no fee for attending the conference, but places are limited and anyone interested in attending should register by completing the registration form before 16th April 2010.
Click here to download the Conference Programme
15.06.2010
Launch of Lord Mayor’s Commission on Employment (LMCE) Report
Press Release: “THE REPORT OF THE LMCE MAKES PROPOSALS ON HOW ECONOMIC RENEWAL AND EMPLOYMENT GROWTH IN THE CITY CAN BE BETTER PROMOTED BY A RANGE OF AGENCIES INCLUDING DUBLIN CITY COUNCIL”… Lord Mayor’s Commission on Employment
Tuesday 15th June 2010: The Lord Mayor of Dublin, Cllr. Emer Costello, will present the Report of her Lord Mayor’s Commission on Employment (LMCE) to Mr. Conor Lenihan T.D., Minister for Science, Technology, Innovation and Natural Resources today at 1.45 p.m. in the Mansion House. During her term as Lord Mayor, it was a priority of the Lord Mayor “to ensure that the Members of Dublin City Council play a pivotal role in the development and promotion of economic recovery and job creation in the City.”
Lord Mayor, Cllr. Emer Costello, says “I established the Lord Mayor’s Commission on Employment in September 2009 to examine how Dublin City Council can facilitate growth in the economy by protecting existing employment and creating new job opportunities. I am delighted with the outcome of many months of hard work by all those dedicated individuals who, collectively, have made this report possible. I look forward to seeing the recommendations contained in the Report implemented in the future.”
Mr. Conor Lenihan, Minister for Science, Technology, Innovation and Natural Resources, says “I am delighted to receive this Commission Report from the Lord Mayor”. The Minister added “the past ten months has witnessed the Commission engage in extensive research and public consultation by taking submissions, meeting with organisations and communities, visiting projects and holding workshops to come up with innovative and creative ideas for boosting the City’s economy, protecting and creating employment and improving our competitiveness.”
The Report being launched today highlights the main findings of the LMCE in the course of the last ten months work. Recommendations have been put forward under the interlinked themes of Dublin city a Working city, a Learning city, a Creative city, an Open city, a Global city and a Liveable city with three key outcomes being announced as follows:
- The LMCE has successfully joined forces with Tipperary Institute to secure 20 places for Dublin in an exciting project CESBEM (Competence Enhancement in Sustainable Building Through European Mobility) II, which is a European funded project under the Lifelong Learning, Leonardo Da Vinci (People in the Labour Market) Programme. The CESBEM II Project is aimed at those in the construction Sector and provides upskilling in the field of energy efficiency in buildings.
- The LMCE has liaised with Ulster Bank who will partner with Dublin City Council to provide a dedicated Business Support Programme for new Start Up businesses in Dublin. The Programme includes a €10m fund to support Start Up enterprises, current account and ancillary services, business planning and mentoring aids and other aspects of start up assistance as appropriate to the individual business. Ken Murnaghan, Regional Director Business Banking at Ulster Bank said; “We are delighted to partner with Dublin City Council in this valuable new enterprise support initiative and endorse the Lord Mayor’s Commission on Employment’s series of recommendations.”
- Following work by the LMCE a study is now being carried out to identify the location of vacant commercial properties in the entire City Centre area initially along the Quays and Thomas Street. It is intended to database that information and match vacant units with persons or groups in the cultural and artistic arena seeking temporary premises. This would have the dual effect of uplifting areas with high vacancy levels while giving emerging cultural groups access to high visibility shop fronts.
ENDS
The following reports are now available to download: