A former mayor of Galway city has been appointed chair of the Association of Irish Regions, the body representing Ireland’s three regional assemblies.
Independent Galway City East councillor, Declan McDonnell, had acted as temporary chair of the association since last year, and was appointed as chair for the next 12 months at a recent meeting of the body in Athlone.
The association is currently planning a major conference on the future of the European Union and urban and rural development in the three regions of Ireland in May 2022, which will be attended by senior figures from the European Commission, the European Parliament, and the European Committee of the Regions.
Future of the western region
“The idea of the association is that representatives of the three regions, the Northern & Western, the Southern and the Eastern and Midland, come together to work on policies and make submissions, on issues that affect the regions, to the Government here in Ireland and to Brussels,” said Cllr McDonnell.
“Among the issues that will be at the fore of our thinking is the question of urban and rural development in the regions, with particular emphasis on rural decline, which affects our region most of all.
“The northern and western region is currently classified as a ‘region in transition’ due to the fact it hasn’t enjoyed the same economic success as the other regions,” said Cllr McDonnell, “and as part of our focus we will be looking at ways to help our region catch up.”
He said next year’s conference will be “an important step in that regard”, and the association will be urging city and county councillors, business leaders, and other stakeholders to attend.
Experience
Cllr McDonnell brings a welath of experience to the role of chair. He was Mayor of Galway in 1999-2000 and 2009-10 and has been a member of the Galway City Council since 1991. He is also a member, and former chair of the Northern & Western Regional Assembly, of which he is still a member.
For almost two decades he has served on the EU Committee of the Regions and is currently the sole representative from the Northern & Western region among the nine Irish full-time members of the CoR.
He is a member of three commissions — the Commission for Citizenship, Governance, Institutional, and External affairs; the Commission for Social Policy, Education, Employment and Culture; and the Commission for Financial and Administrative Affairs.
