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2026 National Conference
Local Development
in Ireland
Bridging Policy, People and Place
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Official Opening
Cllr Peter Horgan
Deputy Lord Mayor of Cork
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Ministerial Address
Minister Jerry Buttimer
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Setting the Scene
Máirín Ó Cuireáin
CEO
Local Development Companies Network
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49 Local Development Companies
Distribution Across All Local Development
Companies
Programmes and Contracts
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What That Looks Like In A Sample Individual Company
CSP
HSE
SICAP
Other will have Average of 10
Programmes and funding lines.
OTHER
LAES
LEADER
These could all have different
reporting and governance
requirements.
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LDC’s Receive Funding from 14 of the 18 Government Departments
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• RURAL PACT STAND
• LEADER PUBLICATION
• SICAP VIDEOS
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Community Resilience
Climate no longer just an
environmental issue
Prof John Sweeney
Maynooth University
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Community Resilience: Climate is no longer just an environmental issue
John Sweeney, Emeritus Professor
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Climate
Science
IPCC
• Assessment
Reports
every 6
years
Global
Response
UNFCCC
• Annual
COP
Meetings
EU Response
Climate Law
• Effort
Sharing
• Emissions
Trading
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Ireland
Climate Act
2021
•Statutory Carbon
Budgets
•Annual Climate
Action Plan for
course correction
Local
Authority
Climate
Action Plans
•Integration into
Planning and
Development at
local level
•Decarbonisation
Zones
Projects at
local level
• Leader
• Climate Action
Plan
• LIFE Projects
• Horizon Europe
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Climate Threats
Mitigation and
Adaptation
Responses
Community
actions
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“Climate change will manifest as a series of disasters viewed through phones
with footage that gets closer and closer to where you live until you’re the one
filming it.”
Climate change is no longer abstract; it directly impacts local communities.
Social media and mobile phones turn everyday people into frontline reporters of extreme
weather. The quote highlights the failure of political action as extreme weather events
become more frequent and severe.
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Wildfires burned more than 6800 km2 of
land in the EU in 2026, an area roughly
equivalent to that of Co. Cork
Europe's severe summer of 2026 was
marked by record-shattering heatwaves and
extreme droughts.
These extreme weather events caused
short-term economic losses of at least €180
billion. (This is equivalent to one third the
size of the total Irish economy)
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Flash Floods
Dubai April 2024
Tropical Storms
USAHurrricane
Milton October
Melissa October 2025
Heatwaves
Spain
Valencia October 2024
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Tuvalu
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• Fossil fuel subsidies in 2024 (CSO,2026)
€4.67 billion
• Increased Fossil Fuel Subsidies as a result of June
2026 actions
€750 Million
Doubling
Down on
Fossil Fuel
Subsidies
• Extension of fuel subsidies July 2026
€270 Million
• Likely 2025 Fossil Fuel Subsidies Total
€6 billion
• (Estimated Cost of Children’s Hospital
€2.24billion
• Total Education Budget 2026
• Total Health Budget 2026
€13.5billion
€27.4billion)
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Source: Emission tracker.eu
EU Average Reduction 1990-2024
40%
Ireland Reduction 1990-2024 (using latest NIR)
5%
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Coral reefs are the "rainforests of the
sea," boasting the highest marine
biodiversity, supporting over 25% of all
marine life despite covering less than
1% of the ocean floor.
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Nepal: 1,400 dead, 6,000 missing, 7,500 homes destroyed
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Blatten, Valais
Canton
Switzerland
25th May 2025
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The centuries-old village of Blatten
28th May 2025
29th May 2025
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The world's richest 10% produce half of global carbon emissions
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•
•
•
The developing El Niño became the strongest on record last Monday 21st September, weeks before
its expected peak
More than 450,000 people are projected to die from the additional heat brought by the super El Niño
by February. Many further deaths are expected from the droughts, wildfires and flooding that El
Niños bring.
The El Niño is also a “postcard from our future”, pushing up temperatures to the level the climate
crisis is projected to deliver in 20 years’ time.
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GCM: EC-Earth
RCP8.5
RCM: WRF
(ICARUS, Maynooth University)
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Regional Climate Model: Projected Rainfall
Changes from 1961-90 to 2021-50
GCM: EC-Earth
RCP8.5
RCM: WRF
(ICARUS, Maynooth University)
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Storm Eowyn
25th January 2025
Storm Chandra 27th January 2026
Insurance Costs (Eowyn) €300M
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Enniscorthy
27th January
2026
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Midleton flooding was made twice as likely to
occur by climate change
October 2023
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Community Resilience:
Climate is no longer just an environmental issue
– LDCs deliver a wide range of targeted programmes, including:
Climate Community Activation Programme
Just Transition enterprise and training supports
SEAI Community and Domestic Retrofit Schemes
Rural Energy Community Advisory Hub (EU-funded technical
assistance)
Integration of climate modules within the Social Inclusion and
Community Activation Programme (SICAP), Community Work
Placement Scheme and the Rural Social Scheme (RSS)
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Why Local and Community Development is ideally
placed to tackle climate and other challenges
LDC can tailor actions to suit
local conditions, bottom-up
management to enable
community ownership and
buy in of activities
LDC can identify and
mobilise local expertise to aid
implementation
LDC can foster wider
participation among
communities
LDC can strengthen
community cohesion
LDC can co-design projects
relevant to community needs
in partnership with other
governance bodies
LDC can identify key local
institutions and
intermediaries to accelerate
delivery
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Addressing local challenges requires a
long-term perspective
Some issues such as climate mitigation
require sometimes difficult transitions.
Access to justice is an important avenue for
community action
But………
Consistent leadership is needed from
central and local government
Short term funding risks progress being lost
when a project ends
Ring fencing of key programmes is
essential to avoid this.
Local and Community Development is also ultimately about creating
opportunities for the next generation
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Intergenerational
solidarity is not
optional, but
rather a basic
question of
justice, since the
world we have
received also
belongs to
those who will
follow us.
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Source: IPCC 6th Assessment Report
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How can Local Development Companies
prepare communities for future change?
Padraic Fingleton
Sabina Trench
Donegal Local
Development
Company
South Mayo
Development
Company
Roisin Lennon
Offaly Local
Development
Company
Liam Quinn
Buíon Phort Láirge
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Lunch
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Izz Alkarajeh - Izz Café
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Who is being left behind?
Assistant Prof Barra Roantree
Trinity College Dublin
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What happens when
people become disconnected
from opportunity and participation?
Prof Niamh Hourigan
Mary Immaculate College
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About Me
•
•
•
•
•
•
Political Sociologist based in Limerick
Spent three years conducting research
in disadvantaged communities in
Limerick between 2007-2010
Research published as part of
Understanding Limerick: Social
Exclusion and Change (CUP, 2011)
TEACH Report- Adult transitions in the
Traveller/ Mincéir community
Rulebreakers- values in Irish political
culture
My research focuses on the operation
of power in various contexts
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Disconnection from
Opportunity and
Participation
At the time I started my research,
Limerick city was characterized by the
following
• Highest rate of local authority
housing (41%)
• Highest rate of suicide, self-harm
and marriage breakdown
• Very high unemployment rates and
single parenthood rates
• Diverse and polarized nature of the
city evident in spatial studies by
Prof. Des McCafferty
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How did these communities become
disconnected from opportunity?
- Complex history
- Significant economic and industrial decline
- Poor planning in terms of housing and
community faculties
- Emergence of drugs economy and related
addiction issues
- Culture clashes
- Rising anti-social behaviour, crime and
social cohesion issues
- Welfare Dependency
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2026 Significant Change
Criminality which drove public concern
about Limerick has become less visible
Some markers of concerns such as
unemployment rates have become less
significant
Other such as housing and homelessness
figures have become more important
Significant investment and FDI in Limerick
and Mid-West after financial crisis
Impact of Regeneration
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Moving to Opportunity
(MTO)
Prof. Raj Chetty
• Vouchers given to families from high
poverty housing projects to move to
lower poverty neighbourhoods
• MTO evaluated impact on children’s
long-term outcomes
• Move for young children increased
college attendance, earnings and
reduced single parenthood rates
• Move had a negative impact on
adolescents because of disruption
• Gains decline as children get older
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MTO only tells one side of the story
Impact of MTO on Communities
Limerick has had two unofficial
experiments in MTO
£5000 grant scheme
• There is a photograph over in the
church of the community council
and you can pick out the people who
went. There was from day dot here a
very good community council and
most of them went at the time. They
would have been involved in scouts,
we had girl guides, we had lots going
on… They were leaders, I could
definitely say they were leaders and
most of them went. There would
have been one or two who stayed but
then they didn’t have the others to
help them so they gave up.
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Exodus from Communities
post £5000
Rise in Anti-social behaviour, crime
and addiction
Greater concentration of poverty
and unemployment
Significant decline of community
activities and community life
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Regeneration in Limerick had strong
MTO Elements
• Regeneration in Ballymun involved significant re-building of
houses and community facilities
• Groundwork for Regeneration in Limerick began in 2006-2007
• Real work began in 2008
• Banking crisis meant that building through public private
partnership was not an option
• Spending on soft youth justice and youth work strategies (Summer
camps, youth clubs, early years schemes)
• Significant number of families were moved out of Regeneration
areas to other low poverty areas
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Key role of Local
Development
Companies
Opportunity without moving- means that
the initiatives benefit not only the
individuals but also the communities
Two challenges
Culture obstacles to upward mobility
which are not as prevalent in lower
poverty communities
Deprivation has become less spatialmovement of migrants and movement of
those in homeless accommodation
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Thank you
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How people behave when facing
change and uncertainty
Prof Pete Lunn
ESRI
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I’m going to cover THREE things
Status quo bias
Primacy effects
Promoting collective action
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Please read…
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What do you think of the town layout?
35
Mean = 5.5
30
25
%
20
9.9%
15
10
5
0
1
Strongly dislike
2
3
4
5
6
7
Strongly like
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Compare…
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What do you think of the town layout?
Existing
“Status Quo Bias”
(SQB) is almost twice
the effect of being a
cyclist or a regular
driver
Planned
35
30
25
%
Happens because
faced with a plan
people ask
themselves:
20
24.2 v 9.9%
15
What could
go wrong?!
10
5
0
1
Strongly dislike
2
3
4
5
6
7
Strongly like
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What can we do?
Rebut the most common
negatives quickly
Can we disrupt the negative
response to change?
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Tested four interventions
Continued Change
Restore
Community Consulted
Link to Climate Change
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Difference from “existing”
Results
0
-0.2
-0.4
-0.6
-0.8
-1
-1.2
Restore
**
Planned
Planned
Cont. Change
Planned
Restore
Planned
Consult
Planned
Climate
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I’m going to cover THREE things
Status quo bias
Primacy effects
Promoting collective action
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Another experiment on opinion formation
Balanced view: mining causes
environmental harms, but minerals
are vital for green technologies
Experiment:
People randomised …to read supporting
arguments OR opposing arguments …to
make an initial statement of position OR
no initial statement
All ultimately read same information
Measured support for mineral exploration
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Results
4.5
4
4.26
4.09
3.87
Supporting
information
first
3.64
3.5
3
Attitude articulation
Control
“Primacy effect”: opinion
formation is biased by
what people read first
More so if they articulate a
view before reading
counterarguments
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I’m going to cover THREE things
Status quo bias
Primacy effects
Promoting collective action
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Collective Action
Everyone in a group has €10 and
can contribute to the “pot”
The pot is doubled then split
equally
What would you do?!
If all contribute, all are better off
But any individual is better off
not contributing
?
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Public good game
• Most people contribute, some all
• A minority contribute nothing: “free-riders”
• Many are “conditional co-operators”: will
contribute if everyone else does
• This combination means that contributions
are highly unstable
• If too many people don’t co-operate,
contributions can fall away to almost nothing
• Field studies find same for local community
actions
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What promotes collective action?
✓ Understanding the collective structure
✓ Communication – especially of the outcome of
successful cooperation
✓ Strong group identity
✓ Equality – any preferential treatment is
damaging
✓ Leadership – visible people and first-movers
matter
✓ Involvement in deciding the rules
✓ Punishment for free-riders (even if only social
disapproval)
(Things that don’t matter much: gender, socioeconomics, group size)
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Summary
• Status quo bias is strong
✓ Need to rebut negatives
✓ Where possible, stress restoration of
positives
• Primacy effects
✓ Be first with reasoning
• Promoting collective action
✓ SEVEN things help!
www.esri.ie/bru
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Cultivating sustainable change through
Integrated local responses
Prof Anna Davies
The Trinity Centre for Future Cities, Trinity College Dublin
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Food fragility
Food economy
• Ireland exports 90% of food it produces (IBEC)
• Ireland imports 83% of its fresh fruit and vegetables (CCAC)
• Increased risk to global food system through climate change and conflict
Food insecurity
• 1 in 11 people across the state struggle to regularly afford or access a
nutritionally adequate die
• 30% of parents felt at some point they didn’t have enough food to feed
their children and 44% skipped meals (Barnados, 2026)
Untapped potential
• 1.4 million people (43% of adults) in Ireland express a keen interest in
growing their own food (Bord Bia, 2017)
• Ireland has only around 2,500 local authority allotments and
community gardens nationwide. Denmark has 50,000 (Homegrown.ie)
• Waiting lists are increasing e.g. Dublin’s Raheny allotments 10+ year wait
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Cultivating change: food sharing initiatives
“In CULTIVATE we focus on food sharing beyond friends and
family, and specifically on initiatives explicitly set up to
share food.
Food Sharing Initiatives (FSIs) are organizations or groups
that are intentionally established to facilitate food sharing
[they] adopt different organisational forms, including cooperatives and social enterprises, charities and for-profits,
and they can be led by grassroots, community, private sector
or state actors.
Examples include seed libraries, community gardens, foodrelated co-operatives, community kitchens, and surplus food
redistribution organisations."
© RIVA Illustrations – Fiammetta Ghedini
Source: Fitzgerald, L. M., & Davies, A. R. (2024). Engaging futures: Scenario
visualisation for sustainable urban food sharing. Futures, 164, 103462.
https://cultivate-project.eu/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/CTV_food-sharing-dictionary_compressed.pdf
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Barcelona
• 3025 tonnes food
recovered
• 2070 tonnes of
CO2 emissions
prevented
• 265 farmers
committed
• 9,581,104 portions
of food served
https://espigoladors.cat/en/
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Lisbon
• 155 Up farms
• 3.2 tonnes veg produced
• 60K savings made
• 2400 beneficiaries
https://upfarming.org/pt-pt/
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Edible Neighbourhood Rijnvliet, Utrecht
• 1000 new dwellings
• 15ha food forest
100+ fruit trees
220 plants
• Participatory co-design
Initiated by locals
Supported by
municipality
Facilitated by experts
• All greenery edible
humans or animals
https://cultivate-project.eu/cities/utrecht/
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Policy challenges
Regulation & risk:
• Divergent views of value creation around
food and conceptions of appropriate
responsibility for risk
Access:
• Lack of, or insecure, access to land and
spaces for sharing
Invisibility:
• Lack of recognition of FSI goals and values
• Marginalisation or exclusion of FSIs from
decision making infrastructures
Source: https://sharecity.ie/sharing-futures_facilitators-summary/
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CULTIVATE Food Sharing Compass
Supporting sustainable food sharing for resilience
https://cultivate-project.eu/
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Panel Discussion
Anna Davies
Barra Roantree
Niamh Hourigan
Pete Lunn
Trinity College
Trinity College
Mary Immaculate
College
ESRI
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Area-based initiatives to
transform neighbourhoods
Talia Melic
OECD
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The
Transforming
Places Project
© OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs,
Regions and Cities
Explores how places can reshape
local industries, institutions, and
identities to create new sources of
local prosperity and resilience in
response to periods of economic
restructuring.
A narrative of place
transformation that
approaches economic
development and social
cohesion as two sides of
the same coin
Mixed-methods approach,
with a focus on practical
policy applications
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Resilient,
Bouncing back or
trapped?
Employment change in
functional urban areas
experiencing moderate and
severe industrial
restructuring pressures since
2000 within group average
and range.
© OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs,
Regions and Cities
Bouncing back
34%
Trapped
47%
Resilient
19%
Half or more of variance in local outcomes
remains unexplained by traditional
economic models
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Soft infrastructure
Local pride and
belonging
Local leadership
Strengthening the
evidence base for
understudied drivers of
place transformation
Identity, narratives
and branding
© OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs,
Regions and Cities
Social
Capital
Social
Infrastructure
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Area-based initiatives
to transform
neighbourhoods
© OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs,
Regions and Cities
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How
neighbourhoods can
shape opportunity
For many people, much of life unfolds
within the neighbourhood, shaping not
only everyday experiences but also access
to opportunity.
Yet these neighbourhoods can also have
strong networks, institutions, local
knowledge, and capacity for collective
action on which to build.
© OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs,
Regions and Cities
Area-based initiatives seek to harness these
assets while addressing the interconnected
dimensions of disadvantage.
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Area-based initiatives
to transform
neighbourhoods
• Facilitating access to the
labour market
• Attracting investment,
job creating and local
hiring
• Supporting resident
entrepreneurship and
business development
An international policy
mapping
© OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs,
Regions and Cities
Collaboration across levels
of government
Economic
development &
employment
• Property and housing
regeneration
• Social infrastructure and
public space
• Improving safety
• Neighbourhood image
and pride
• Addressing environment
considerations and
energy transition
Community
cohesion &
wellbeing
Physical
regeneration &
liveability
Local partnerships and
capacity building
• Early childhood
• Education and youth
development
• Health and well-being
• Social cohesion
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© OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs,
Regions and Cities
First international
mapping of ABIs
Norway
Sweden
Finland
Kvarterløft
Programme
Area-based
Initiatives
Programme
Metropolitan
Development
Initiative
Neighbourhood Programme I-II
Development Programme for Residential Areas
Ireland
Canada
Toronto Strong Neighbourhoods
Strategy (Toronto)
Neighbourhoods Alive! (Manitoba)
UK
SICAP I-III
Empowering
Communities
New Deal for Communities
Pride in Place Programme
Neighbourhood Renewal
Programme (Northern
Ireland)
United States
Empowerment Zones
Enough! Initiative (Maryland)
Choice Neighbourhoods
Promise Zones
Spain
Mexico
Programa de Mejoramiento Barrial y
Comunitario para el Bienestar
Programa Mejoramiento Integral de
Barrios
Denmark
Chile
Quiero Mi Barrio
Programme
ERACIS (Andalusia)
Neighbourhood Plan
(Catalonia)
France
Quartiers Prioritaires de la
Ville (QPV)
New National Urban
Regeneration Programme
(NPNRU)
Pacte parisien pour les
quartiers populaires
Belgium
Big Cities Policy
Sustainable
Neighbourhood
Contracts (BrusselsCapital)
Neighbourhood
Improvement
Contracts (Flanders)
Netherlands
Big Cities Policy
Dutch District Approach
National Programme of Liveability and
Safety
Germany
Social City Programme
Social Cohesion Programme
Education, Economy, Work in the
Neighborhood Programme (BIWAQ)
Poland
Gmina Revitalisation Programme
Australia
Stronger Places, Stronger
People
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ABIs approach
people and place
holistically
© OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs,
Regions and Cities
Breaking sectoral siloes to
engage with the multiple
dimensions of a person’s
life.
Addressing place-based
dimensions of disadvantage.
Working with people across
the life course.
Not just individuals –
empowering whole families
and communities.
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Social infrastructure
and community
cohesion
Social infrastructure
refers to places where
people can gather,
form bonds and
relationships.
E.g. libraries, parks,
cafes, sport centres,
community gardens.
© OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs,
Regions and Cities
Building capacities in youth
through co-design of social
infrastructure
Community led and co-designed
social infrastructure: to respond
to diverse needs and “belong” to
the community
Strengthening community
pride and neighbourhood
image
Joint projects and
opportunities to cooperate, where people can
transcend differences and
find common ground
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Barriers
Addressing
people- and
place-based
barriers to
employment in
tandem
Responses
Pre-employment support
✓
© OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs,
Regions and Cities
✓
✓
Flexibility to tailor
Building a bridge to the local
labour market for the
employment ready
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Reviving main
streets:
Bridging physical
regeneration and
business support
• Investment in
renovation
• Temporary reuse
• Business advisory
services
• Support local
recruitment
• Mobilising local
business alliance
© OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs,
Regions and Cities
Strengthen commercial
viability and business
confidence
Improve an area’s image,
liveability and perceptions of
safety.
Preserve or create local jobs
Remove barriers to local
hires
Proximity goods & services
Anchor points for
community connection
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Local delivery
Programme offices
and Backbone
teams: the “engine”
of neighbourhood
change
Providing operational
capacity and a
convening role
A community anchor
and trusted broker
© OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs,
Regions and Cities
Leadership
and
Management
• Existing organisations
rooted in the
community
Coordination
Fostering
community
participation
& ownership
• Newly created offices
• Municipalities
Communicatio
n and
advocacy
Managing
and
mobilising
funding
Building
capability
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Enabling conditions
for programme
offices and
backbone teams
An on-site
presence, which is
broadly accessible
and in a visible
location
Funding for fulltime staff that are
enabled to stay
the long haul
© OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs,
Regions and Cities
Interdisciplinary
staff, with
interpersonal
qualities and
local knowledge
Systematic
capacity building
for backbone
teams and
programme
offices
Support and trust
of local authority,
and standing in
the local
community
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Why individual programmes alone
cannot solve complex problems
Adeline O’Brien
Empower
Nessan Vaughan
Saint Vincent
de Paul
Jennifer
Moroney-Ward
Limerick City
Partnership
Paul Ginnell
Researcher
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Day One Wrap up
Feedback Form
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Kabin Crew
Performance
7pm
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Special guest:
John Lonergan
Believing in Humanity –
a good philosophy for living
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2026 National Conference
Local Development
in Ireland
Bridging Policy, People and Place
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Rural Development and LEADER –
What does community-led local
development look like when it works?
Karen Keaveney
UCD
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“… society as a whole is transformed and, from an industrial society, becomes
an urban one. … Urbanisation, whose importance has continued to grow
unabated, transforms the past. These towers, rising above the forest,
opposite the mountains, are a challenge and a question. A challenge to
the past, a question for the future. From the outset, this was not an attempt
to erase an earlier social text; something more and different has been taking
place, making itself known, signifying its presence – the urban. A page turns. A
different social text is being written. Thus the first roof of the first workshop,
or the first shelter of a worker separated from the means of production
were signifiers”.
- Henri Lefebvre, in From the Rural to the Urban (1969); from ‘On The Rural’ by
Elden & Morton (2022; pp7-8); translated by Robert Bononno.
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Mural by Juliet Cullen
Location: Roscommon Town
Photo Credit: Karen Keaveney
“ … They all want to go to the moon or Everest but nobody
wants to give you a lift to town, which’d be of some use to a
man”. From Sinclair, by John McGahern
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“A characteristic of modern western societies, including the most
affluent, is the seemingly intractable problems in the rural sector.
Vast technological changes and rising economic wealth are
paralleled in rural areas by chronic low-incomes, involuntary
migration, inadequate public facilities and services, and a general
debilitation of community life”.
Commins, Cox & Curry (1978) – NESC Report. No. 41
The concepts of the countryside or of rural society are by no means merely geographical in
scope, since economic and social life outside our towns and cities is of great complexity,
embracing a wide range of activities.
But our rural areas are not only places were people live and work, for at the same time they
have vital functions for society as a whole . As a "buffer" area and refuge for recreation, the
countryside is vital to the general ecological equilibrium, and it is assuming an increasingly
important role as the most popular location for relaxation and leisure.
The Future of Rural Society, EC, 1988
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… is the CAP for farmers or for hairdressers? …
Jacques Chirac (completely unverified and only
reputed he said this!)
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“rural communities will participate effectively in the structures
and decision making processes affecting them in an inclusive
society based on the principles of equity, particularly in relation
to gender balance and social justice”
Delivering For The Future: A Strategy For Rural
Development In Ireland
White Paper on Rural Development 1999
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https://ruralpact.rural-vision.europa.eu/publications/rural-pact-coordination-group-rpcg-declaration-future-rural-areas-and-rural_en
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CAP to Cohesion?
What next …
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NRPPs:
Goal: Flexibility
& a simple,
integrated
approach for
tailored local
support
National Regional
Partnership Plans
Replace separate
current programmes
for cohesion,
agriculture, fisheries,
migration, security,
and the social climate
fund with one unified
plan per country to
simplify and increase
implementation
efficiency.
Concern:
No/Limited ringfenced funds and
too much flexibility
risk community
led-local
development
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SelfGovernance
EvidenceBased
Resilience
CLLD
Adaption &
Mitigation
Inclusive
Partnership
not
Competition
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Community-led local
development and LEADER
Karen Keaveney
UCD
Josephine O’Neill
Macra na Feirme
Karen Mannion
Forum Connemara
John Feerick
Sligo LEADER
Partnership
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How can stronger local food systems
support economic, environmental and
community resilience
Ruth Hegarty & Evonne Boland
Food Policy Ireland
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Research, Advocacy and Action towards
Sustainable, Healthy and Fair Food Systems
for all
Work from the
ground up for
resilient local food
systems
Strategists
Facilitators
Advocate for
policy change
and citizen voice
Systems
Connectors
Social justice lens
and a food systems
approach
Researchers
Conveners
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How resilient is Ireland’s food system?
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Why local food systems?
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Local Food
Partnerships
community led food
systems
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Brighton & Hove Food Partnership
Activities
Primary School Meals Service
Good Food Procurement
Community Kitchen
Mobile Farm/Markets/Veg Box Schemes
Community/Shared Meals
Food Growing Spaces
Low-cost food membership schemes
Food in all Policies
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Community Wealth-Building
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COMMUNITY FOOD HUBS
economic
environmental
resilience
community
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the positive economic,
environmental, and
social impacts of a
community embedded
approach
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School Food
the opportunity for an integrated community-led solution
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What role for Local Development Companies
Integrated
approach
Convening
power
Place-based
Community
Conversations
Needs
Assessment
Asset
Mapping
Capacity-building
Local Food Partnership
Local Food Systems
Strategy
Community Food
Resilience Plan
Community
Food Hub
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We would love to hear from you
[email protected]
087 7989474
www.foodpolicy.ie
@foodpolicyireland
Thank you
@ruthhegartyfoodpolicy
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Rural Economies and LEADER
Martina Earley
Roscommon
LEADER
Partnership
Humphrey Murphy
Irish Leisure
Consultants
Shay Riordan
Noel Spillane
West Limerick
Resources
South Kerry
Development
Partnership
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Creative Places: From Policy to Practice —
What can long-term arts investment
do for communities
Peter Prendergast
Cork County Council
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Creative Places | Cumas Ceantar
CP is a national programme of 19 places around Ireland, in towns, estates and rural areas across Ireland. It was
established in 2019, with the objective of enabling people to create and run vibrant, accessible and stimulating arts
programmes in their own local area.
Supported by artists and led by locals, Creative Places celebrates people-powered arts.
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Creative Places Location Map
Creative
Place
.
Lead Partner Organisation
1. Tuam
2. Athy
3. Darndale
4. West Cork Islands
5. Edenderry
6. Bagenalstown
7. MacUilliam
8. Uibh Rathaigh
9. Shannon
10. Loughlinstown / Ballybrack
11. Tipperary Town
12. Baltinglass
13. Enniscorthy
14. Balbriggan
15. Edgeworthstown
16. Ballyconnell
17. Ballaghadereen
18. Kilfinane
19. Knocknaheeny
Galway County Council
Kildare County Council
Northside Partnership
Cork County Council
Creative Lives
Carlow County Council
Tallaght Community Arts
Comhchoiste Ghaeltacht Uibh Ráthaigh
Clare County Council
Southside Partnership
Youthwork Tipperary
Wicklow County Council
Wexford Arts Centre
Fingal County Council
Longford County Council
Cavan County Council
Roscommon County Council
Ballyhoura Development
Cork City Council
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Creative Places Programme
1. Creative Places represents one of Arts Council
Ireland’s most ambitious investments in place-based
cultural development.
2. It is rooted in the principles of socio-spatial equity,
collaborative practice, and long-term community
development & a multi-annual investment approach.
3. Creative Places demonstrates how national
cultural policy can be translated into locally led
action that reflects the distinct identities, aspirations,
and circumstances of places
4. It is the result of decades of policy evolution,
research, partnership, and commitment to
addressing inequalities in opportunities to enjoy and
participate in the arts across Ireland.
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Broader Policy context
National
• Ireland 2040
• National Planning Framework 2040’s action plan
for rural development
Regional
• Rural & Urban Regeneration & Development Funds
• LDC's
• Town and Village Renewal Scheme (TVRS)
Local Authority
• Local strategic + arts + development plans
Arts Council
• Making Great Art Work (2016 – 2025)
• Place, Space and People, Equality, Human Rights
and Diversity Policy
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What are the (emerging) conditions of success?
1. The longitudinal funding approach by the Arts Council is in marked contrast to other funding
streams which is making it possible to sustain and build upon.
2. The coordinators in each place are critical to achieving outcomes as a focused, dedicated
and skilled resource, giving time for trust to emerge
3. Building governance with a Lead Partner, LDC’s
and the Community co-design & decision making
4. Building on existing assets, respecting and amplifying
what is there, encouraging co-creation, using existing
infrastructure, and adaptability to local needs.
5. Strengthening community from the ground up,
create a positive atmosphere, showcase the work,
bring visibility and challenge negative narratives
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West Cork Islands – Case Study
From Policy to Practice:
What Can Long-Term Arts Investment Do for Communities
www.creativeplaceswci.ie
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Community Ownership,
The LDC Approach
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We Translate National & Local
Policy Frameworks into Investment
in People & Community
Redistribution → directing resources to
underserved island communities
Participation → enable communities as
co-creators & building on resources
indigenous to the islands
Place-based practice → ground activity
in local identity and landscape
Sustainability → build lasting cultural
resilience
The Harte Sisters Heir Island
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PLACE
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Strengthens Communities from the ground up, creating participation
between Council, LDCs, community groups & individuals
Hundreds of opportunities for creative engagement from, skill sharing,
workshops, festivals, storytelling, local craft, environmental work and
heritage
Why is Long-Term
Arts Investment for
Communities
Important?
Supporting individual artists via the Islander Artist Maker
programme
Developing a dialogue about environmental change through our
Ocean & Environment programme
Exploring themes and rhythms through oral storytelling and
composition through the Storytellers in Residence
Gathering stories relating to animals, birds and folklore through the
Museum of Birds & Beasts
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Ideas Emerge from Community
Skill sharing between islanders
Traditional boat building
The Story of Us, participatory books about community
LIVE MUSIC & DANCING AT THE CROSSROADS
Bere Island Men's Shed
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Artists & Community Work
Together
A Green Rope for Sherkin. Artist: William Bock
The Museum of Birds and Beasts Book Launch & Readings
A participatory arts project which has been gathering stories relating
to animals, birds and folklore from all of the West Cork Islands
A 7 Islands Newspaper for & About the West Cork Islands
Uplands to Islands. Dinnseanchas Tour with Creative Places West
Cork Islands
My Townland, My Story
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Strengthening of People & Place
The Cermaic Group on Sherkin Island
Poetry on Bere Island
The Bere Island Arts Festival
Sherkin Island’s folklore mapping project by Mona O Driscoll
West Cork Music Chamber Festival Bantry
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Strengthening of People & Place
Leather skill sharing for Islanders.
It is hoped that leatherwork will continue to be passed down through the generations for years to come
Sea & Stone, Island Art Works & Artefacts
A showcase of island craft, contemporary art, skills & artefacts
7 Islands Storytellers in Residence
Paddy O’Brien, Nuala Hayes, and Simone Schuemmelfeder.
Recreating the Viking Harbour on Bere Island. Artist Jamie Howard
A sculptural intervention placed along the Bere Island high road.
Traditional lobster pot workshops with local fisherman Bere Island
A demonstration on how to make a traditional willow lobster pot.
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Exploring Islands under the theme Ocean & Environment
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Conclusion
•
The Creative Places Programme illustrates how policies are not abstract ambitions but
operational frameworks.
•
Creative Places transforms policy ambitions—such as fairness, collaboration, sustainability,
and creativity—into practical, community-based action.
•
As a model of non-urban rural investment, CPWCI highlights the importance of integrating
cultural policy with spatial planning, demonstrating that investment in the arts can play a
central role in strengthening rural communities.
•
Ultimately, it shows that policy is most effective when it is embedded in place, shaped
locally, and sustained over time
w w w. c r e a t i v e p l a c e s w c i . i e
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Coffee break
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FELISPEAKS
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How can place-based policy
rebuild trust?
Niamh Moore-Cherry
UCD
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The core challenge
•
Tackling the major societal challenges of our time requires innovation in mindsets, methods and policy to
be enabled within an agile and courageous governance system.
•
The Current Dilemma: Policy making and delivery is often sectorally siloed, top-down, and disconnected
from lived experience.
•
Social exclusion, polarisation and fragmentation often means that communities feel they have no
meaningful voice in a system that increasingly is perceived to serve others.
•
Top-down, siloed policies often erode trust. Rebuilding trust requires a values-led, place-based approach
that connects national policy with frontline community intelligence.
How can co-creating place-based policy with communities rebuild trust?
164
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Key question
How do we shift from top-down mandates to co-created, place-based and
place-appropriate policy that rebuilds trust, empowers communities and
sustains democratic legitimacy?
How can co-creating place-based policy with communities rebuild trust?
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Place, Capabilities, and Just Futures
• Understanding Local Context: Narratives, discourse and policy must account for specific local assets,
deficits, historical patterns, and socio-cultural identities. What is and is not being discussed?
• Capabilities Approach: Building and translating community capacity, choice, and a focus on wellbeing
rather than administrative mandates. What conversion factors are in play?
• Where Top-Down Meets Bottom-Up: Bridging central policy and national funding frameworks with local
community leadership. How can effective dialogue be enabled to co-deliver national and local goals?
• Core Principles: Equity of opportunity, justice, authenticity and empowerment - policy prescriptions
should not entrench or exacerbate existing spatial and social inequalities. How can local communities
shape their futures?
How can co-creating place-based policy with communities rebuild trust?
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Case Studies: Community-led policy and strategy development
Presentation Title
167
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• Co-designing green infrastructure and green transitions directly with local communities in
Dublin, Kilbeggan, Inishowen and North Leitrim – working with not on communities.
• Combining community data mapping with workshops to harness local intelligence, build on
local assets and foster local ownership.
Figure 1: The co-creation phases
• Empower with data; broker new relationships through agonism; generate actionable ideas
How can co-creating place-based policy with communities rebuild trust?
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Credit: Mary Moriarty and Julie McCormick
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Policy/Practitioner responses
Communication
Constructive
collaboration
Community and
social
infrastructure
Ecological literacy
Leadership
Resources
Multifunctionality
Planning
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www.mappinggreendublin.co
m
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Place-based transitions: Finding the ‘hook’ for meaningful dialogue
“Sustainability science positions researchers as not just generators of knowledge but also as knowledge brokers,
dialogue enablers, solution generators and change agents (Miller et al. 2014; Hart et al. 2016)” (RIA, 2021)
How can co-creating place-based policy with communities rebuild trust?
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Deep Dive Case Study: CONUNDRUM
Presentation Title
173
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The CONUNDRUM project (www.townsmatter.eu)
• The Challenge: Moving beyond rigid top-down
transport schemes and overcoming "consultation
fatigue" or local pushback.
• The Approach:
• Community-first co-creation mapping
challenges and assets
• Identifying key local champions (Wexford Local
Development, Sláintecare Healthy
Communities)
• Rebuilding trust and building capacity: Moving from
passive ‘consultation’ to active decision-making and
‘tooling up’ all involved
How can co-creating place-based policy with communities rebuild trust?
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9 actions
65 opportunities
87 opportunities
All 9 underway
Amended bus routes
Increased bus usage
Safer school routes
20 solutions
8 actions
22 solutions
9 actions
How can co-creating place-based policy with communities rebuild trust?
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The community voice & importance of “local intelligence” for trust
With thanks to Dean Phelan
(CONUNDRUM team) and
Jonathan Hughes and
Seamus Whitney.
Thanks also to the #10Things
to Know About team!
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Practical principles for co-creating trust & supporting local democracy
• Treat Citizens as Place-Based Experts: Ground policy and interventions in lived experience
• Use trusted organisations, such as the LDC’s as knowledge-brokers and a pathway to inclusive
participatory practice
• Two-Way Capacity Building: Invest in community capacity and build capability within local
authorities to engage in innovative ways with open mindsets and adaptive perspectives.
• Shared power through data transparency: Use open tools and methods to build a common
language that levels the playing field and recognises different expertises and intelligences.
• Focus on "More in Common": Align national policy goals with everyday quality of life
How can co-creating place-based policy with communities rebuild trust?
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Key reflections
• Strengthening the Local Voice: Reinforcing the ethos
of place-based development and enabling community
empowerment.
• Systemic Shift: Creating conditions that move
engagement from reactionary objection to proactive
co-creation and shaping policy.
• A Renewed Role for the LDCN: In partnership with
other ‘brokers’, ensuring collective local intelligence
shapes national policy at all stages.
How can co-creating place-based policy with communities rebuild trust?
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Closing thought
Trust is rebuilt when communities see their knowledge and lived
experience reflected in the policy decisions that shape their local
places.
Presentation Title
179
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What can we learn from communities
that have navigated division?
Gerard Deane
Holywell Trust
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About Holywell Trust
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About Holywell Trust
1988
Established
Local Voice
Holywell Trust was
established in
Derry/Londonderry in 1988,
initiating decades of
community work.
We work to support local
people to have a strong voice
and influence on decisions
affecting their lives.
Community
Development
Committed to positively
transforming the lives of local
people through addressing
interpersonal and societal
challenges.
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Our principles
Peacebuilding
Future Vision
Community Led
At the heart of the
community relations
and peacebuilding
conversation.
Positive, solution
focused conversations.
Taking our lead from
the community.
Conflict
Prevention
Working to actively
avoid the possibility of
future political
violence.
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Areas of work
Constitutional
Question
Community
Leadership
At the heart of the
community relations
and peacebuilding
conversation.
Addressing gaps in
leadership capacity.
Citizen Voice
Shared Space
Amplifying voice of the
community on issues
that matter.
Creating shared space
for difficult
conversations.
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Community Leadership
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Community Leadership
Future Leaders
Leadership Collective
North West Leaders
Part of the Investing in
Community Leadership in the
West programme with
Fermanagh Trust and Rural
Community Network.
Cross-sectoral leadership
programme - creating a new
cohort of leaders committed to
working together to tackle
some of the wicked problems
facing society.
With Inishowen Development
Partnership - new crossborder leadership programme,
increasing capacity in the
North West.
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Citizen Voice
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Citizen Voice
Thirty Project
Policy Input
Podcasts
Mini public - citizen
recruitment, expert input,
deliberation and
recommendation.
Range of relevant issues legacy, future funding,
constitutional issue, good
relations strategy etc.
Reflecting and promoting our
work - promoting local
concerns.
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Shared Space for Difficult Conversations
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Shared Space
Accessible
Values Driven
Fully accessible shared space
- currently home to 10 other
community organisations.
Holywell is a shared space, and
we will not accept or honour
any booking that advocates a
specific political view, religious
or similar philosophical belief.
For example, a political party
meeting would not be
compatible with our ethos, but
an elections hustings event
would be.
11 meeting spaces.
Approximately 1, 500 bookings
per year - 11, 000 participants
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Constitutional Question
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Holywell’s Position on the Constitutional Question
Neutral Stance
Facilitative Role
No Political Agenda
Holywell does not have a
preferred outcome on the
constitutional issue other than
enhancing the discussion and
debate by providing accurate
and informed information.
Holywell Trust is taking a
facilitative role in the process,
enabling constructive
dialogue.
Holywell is not about pushing a
particular political agenda OR
developing a rationale for a
‘shared island’ or a ‘united
Ireland’.
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Future Relationship Conversations and Forward Thinking
Engaging WHOLE
community
All sections of community were
engaged in the conversations
- especially those harder to
reach.
Community driven
Research
Issues we examined were
determined by those that we
engaged with.
Where possible we led factbased conversations. Based on
research that we and others
commissioned.
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Anticipated Themes & Co-creation
Prior to commencing the project we
considered the themes that dominated
media coverage & academic research.
We anticipated these would be the
dominant themes to be considered.
However we interviewed
prospective participants as part of
the recruitment progress and asked
them what they wanted to focus on
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Approach
01
02
03
04
Safe Spaces
Accessibility
Other Voices
Unionism
Having the
conversation, listening
to other people’s
views, and learning
how to engage with
the issue.
Looking beyond the
academic to foster
truly accessible, open,
and practical
conversations.
Actively bringing in
new and ethnic
communities, young
people, the 'middle'
ground, and missing
voices.
Exploring unionist
perspectives and
learning how to
effectively engage and
connect with unionism.
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Other Themes & Issues
05
06
07
Governance & Rights
Society & Inclusion
Socio-Economics & Health
●
●
●
●
●
Constitutional challenges;
Structures; Timeframes;
Mechanics
Experiences of other
jurisdictions
Cross-border issues
Political strategies
How politics play out on
the ground
●
●
●
●
●
●
Women’s voices & Gender
issues
VAWAG (Violence Against
Women and Girls)
Shared future & Future
generations
Working class voices
Culture, Identity &
Language
Religion & spirituality
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
Economy & Inequality
Peace & return to violence
Socialism
Mental health impacts
Health services
Infrastructure
All Ireland funding
Education & schools
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Workshops
Authors ‘For & Against a United Ireland’
Trevor Ringland, Jay Basra &
Hanna
Colin Harvey
Dr Ebun Joseph & Dr Naomi Green
Lindsay McIntosh
Kieran Andrews & David Clegg
Dr Anne Devlin
Aoife Clements
Professor Katy Hayward
Emma Rooney
Dr David McCann
Agnes Tomlie
Dr David Phinnemore
Dr Daniel Cetra
Barcelona University - Catalonia expert
Dr Shelley Deane
Analysing & Researching Ireland North &
South, (ARINS) & Dublin City University
Journalist, Sunday Times (Scotland)
50:50 NI
Commentator & journalist
Fintan O'Toole & Sam McBride
Ireland's Future & QUB
Authors & journalists (Scotland)
QUB
Scottish Women’s Convention
Uniting UK
Racism experts
Economic & Social Research Institute
European Movement Ireland
QUB
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Study Visits
November 2025 holywelltrust.com/blog/scotland
April 2026 holywelltrust.com/blog/forward-thinkingbasque
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Participant Reflection
Exposed to New Views
"It's given me the opportunity to make a difference and engage with
people from across our communities who have been impacted by
the Troubles..."
"Coming from a predominantly Unionist/Protestant area, it was
amazing to be exposed to other political views and real life
experiences."
"I found it so very interesting to meet people with different political
and cultural backgrounds, and really appreciated the space that
was created to have the more difficult conversations. I feel that we all
worked hard to respect each other and listen and learn."
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Challenges & Hurdles
PUL Community Engagement
Engaging participants & speakers from the PUL
community remains complex. Those perceived as
'progressive' unionists are generally more open to taking
part.
Balancing Knowledge Levels
Managing different baselines of knowledge, experience,
and specific topical interest across a highly diverse
participant group.
Covering a Vast Range of Issues
With such a wide array of interests within the cohort, it is
exceptionally difficult to adequately cover all priority
areas.
Reflection during Study Visits
Building in reflection time and structured, facilitated
discussion for the core group is highly challenging during
intense travel itineraries.
Building Trust & Safety
Speakers and contributors can be highly reluctant to
share openly due to past public backlash. Creating a safe
space requires reassurance, agreed ground rules, and
lengthy coordination (e.g. key sessions required up to 5
months to organize).
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What made the project successful
• Recruitment & Co-Design
Formalised recruitment process to manage expectations
and requirements, paired with a high degree of co-design
with the main cohort as the project progressed.
• Cohort Bonding
Main group bonding through study visits and reflection
sessions. Sharing experiences and spending time together
to appreciate different opinions was the key takeaway.
• Diverse Perspectives
A diverse range of participants, particularly including a
younger cohort (aged 20-25) who brought fresh and vital
perspectives to the discussions.
• Inclusive Engagement
Approaching workshops and study visits with a complete
open mind regarding who was engaged and invited to
present.
• Political Dialogues
Direct engagement with political parties and key
advisers in both Scotland and the Basque Region to
reflect deeply on past and current situations.
• Learning from Victims
Meeting victims and survivors in the Basque Region,
gaining an invaluable understanding of their postconflict landscape to compare with our own.
• Funder Support
Crucial guidance, structuring, and ongoing support
provided throughout by the dedicated DCSDC
PeacePlus team.
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Next Steps
2027 Conference
Forward Thinking 2.0
Longer-Term
Showcasing project
learnings
Funding & future phase
Comparative scaling
●
Showcasing the work
and the input from
participants
●
●
●
Application submitted
in June 2026 to
PeacePlus
Changemakers
Renewed focus on
North-South learning
& collaborative
dialogue
Currently awaiting
official funding
decision
●
●
●
New comparative
project focusing on
constitutional
challenges
Analyzing
international
frameworks and
lessons
Targeting studies of
other regions (e.g.,
Germany, Catalonia)
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Universal truths - building relationships
• Trust
• Accessible
• Time
• Learning from Each Other
• People Led
• Resourcing
• Inclusive
• Facilitation - expertise trusted relationship
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Building trust, belonging and
democratic participation from
the ground up
Paul Rogers
Northside
Partnership
Niamh
Moore-Cherry
UCD
Gerard Deane
Holywell Trust
Noel Wardick
Dublin Co-Op
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Lunch
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What does a truly inclusive
Community look like?
Chief Commissioner Liam Herrick
IHREC
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Social Cohesion: What really works?
Conleth Burns
More in Common
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The state of social
cohesion in Ireland
today
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Social cohesion: What really works?
The challenge: a tale of two Irelands
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Social cohesion: What really works?
An Ireland that feels divided across places
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Social cohesion: What really works?
Migration seen as the main driver of division
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Social cohesion: What really works?
Many Irish people are disillusioned with the system
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Social cohesion: What really works?
Fuel protests commanded broad public support
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Seven key lessons
learned from the
Community
Connection Project
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Lesson 1
A whole place, whole
of community
challenge requiring a
whole of community
response
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Lesson 2
Relationship matter
more than arguments
Messengers >
message
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Lesson 3
How you frame this
work matters - it can
open up or shut down
the conversation
“A license to talk to everyone”
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Lesson 4
Intentionality about
who you are engaging
is key
Regular ‘plus’ ‘minus’
‘equals’ tests
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Lesson 5
Where you are
engaging matters
The more ‘hyper-local’
the better
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Lesson 6
Local Development
Companies are wellequipped to do this
work
Trusted, local and not
the state
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Lesson 7
This work takes time
and proper resource
Count what matters,
not what’s easy to
count
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Social cohesion: What really works?
Exhaustion with division persists, but so does confidence in the things we
share
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Conleth Burns
Associate Director
Ireland and Northern Ireland
[email protected]
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The LDC Perspective
Maebh O’Callaghan
Cork City
Partnership
Shauna McClenaghan
Inishowen Development
Partnership
Terry Hyland
Brian Kehoe
Cavan Local
Development Company
Wexford Local
Development Company
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Concluding remarks
Sean Lavery
Chair, LDCN
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CLIMATE
SOCIETY
COMMUNITIES
PLACE
ECONOMY
PROGRAMMES
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Feedback Form
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Thank you
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Owning your own story
Leon Diop
Black and Irish
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DIA DAOIBH
I'm Leon, and I'm from Tallaght.
Tallaght
Senegal
Maynooth
Where I grew up, and where my accent
Where my family's roots run
Students' Union President for around
still lives
13,000 students
Black and Irish
Arts Council
Trinity College
Founded in 2020 to tell our stories
Former Head of Equality, Diversity and
Now studying Race, Ethnicity and
ourselves
Inclusion
Conflict
Owning Our Own Story · LDCN National Conference 2026, Cork · 02
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Who told you your story?
Think of the first time someone described who you were, before you
had the words to do it yourself.
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01
Mixed Up
My story, and who was holding the pen.
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Growing up, other people narrated me.
The story told about me
The story I was living
“Where are you really from?”
A Tallaght kid through and through
“You don't look Irish.”
Irish in every way that counts, with roots in
Different. Other. A question to be answered.
Senegal
Curious, loud, loved, stubborn child
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Internal uncertainty, led to external volatility - To overcome, we must look within.
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THE TURNING POINT
Nobody hands you the pen.
You pick it up.
Running for President
Writing Mixed Up
Building Black and Irish
Maynooth Students' Union: I stopped
An Irish boy's journey to belonging, in
A platform so others don't have to wait
waiting to be picked
my own words
as long as I did
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02
Identity is a
foundation
Confidence starts with knowing where you stand.
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From identity to contribution
1
2
3
4
Identity
Confidence
Participation
Contribution
I know who I am and
My voice has value
So I show up, speak
And my community is
where I belong
here
up, sign up
better for it
Break the first link, and the rest rarely happens.
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BELONGING IS CIVIC INFRASTRUCTURE
You already reach the people whose stories go
untold.
45
33,700+
2,000+
across rural and urban Ireland
SICAP, alongside 3,000 community
network, in every county
Local Development Companies
individuals supported through
organisations
Source: LDCN; SICAP Annual Report, published September 2026
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people employed across the
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03
Black and Irish
What six years of listening has taught us.
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SINCE 2020
Our stories were being told about us, rarely by
us.
Media
Advocacy
Education
Storytelling and a podcast that put
Policy and campaigns for a fairer, more
The Inclusive Programme: anti-racism
Black Irish voices at the centre
equal Ireland
and anti-bias workshops for
classrooms, companies and
community groups
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BLACK AND IRISH IN PICTURES
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What the stories keep telling us
Belonging is questioned daily
Seeing yourself changes what you try
In shops, schools, sports clubs and online
Representation opens doors people didn't know were there
Community is where confidence grows first
Pride and pressure live side by side
Being ‘the first’ is heavy as well as proud
Before school, before work, there's the local
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STORIES ON THE SHELF
Representation is a public good.
AN POST IRISH BOOK AWARD
MEMOIR, 2025
Black & Irish: Legends,
Trailblazers and Everyday
Heroes
Mixed Up: An Irish Boy's
Journey to Belonging
Co-written with Briana Fitzsimons
My own story, in my own words
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FOR AGES 5 TO 8, OCTOBER 2026
Black & Irish: Awesome
Icons
So the next generation sees itself
from the start
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04
Society today
Division, hatred and the narrative vacuum.
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Ireland has changed. The story hasn't kept up.
1 in 5
people living here were born outside the State (Census 2022, up from 17% in 2016)
The gap
The risk
Our communities changed faster than the stories we tell about
Into that gap step fear, rumour and people who profit from
them
division
Source: CSO, Census of Population 2022
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If we don't tell our story,
someone else will.
And they won't tell it with love. The narrative vacuum is where division
grows.
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Division and belonging are both local.
How division spreads
How belonging spreads
Distance
Proximity
Rumour on a WhatsApp group
A trusted local messenger
Competing for scarce services
Working together on a shared task
Silence from institutions
Visible, early welcome
“They” and “us”
“Our” town, “our” people
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05
Creating the narrative
What local development can do next.
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COLLECTIVE VISION, FAIRER SOCIETY
Your values already point the way.
LDCN value
What owning our story looks like
Social Justice
Name disadvantage, and who it hits, in people's own words
Stewardship
Earn trust by handing over the mic, not speaking for people
Sustainable Development
Invest in young local storytellers who stay and lead
Community Led
Co-design with the people whose story it is
Equality / Equity
Notice who is missing from the room, then change the room
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Five practices for Monday morning
Ask people how they describe themselves before you describe them in a report
1
Listen first
2
Hand over the mic
Let participants tell the story at launches, on your channels, to funders
3
Tell the ordinary
Everyday heroes build belonging faster than rare success stories
4
Show up early
When tension rises locally, be visible in the first week, not the fifth
5
Measure belonging
Track who feels they belong, not only who attended
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RIGHT HERE IN CORK
The right support at the right time.
2016
2018
2019
Today
Arrives in Ireland with his
Starts selling at Cork farmers'
Opens Izz Café on George's
Award-winning, and a Cork
family
markets
Quay
institution
Support plus the chance to tell your own story turns a newcomer into a neighbour,
employer and landmark.
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YOUR TURN · 5 MINUTES
Write the first line of your community's story.
1
2
3
In our community, we
are…
The story people get
wrong about us is…
The story we want our
children to inherit is…
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COLLECTIVE VISION, FAIRER SOCIETY
A fairer Ireland starts with
who holds the pen.
Own your story. Then help your community own theirs.
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Go raibh maith
agaibh.
Questions and conversation
LEON DIOP
BLACK AND IRISH
@leon_Diop
blackandirish.com
SOCIAL
[@Black_andirish
Owning Our Own Story · LDCN National Conference 2026, Cork · 26
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Closing Address
An Taoiseach Micheál Martin
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Conference Close
Feedback Form
Thank you for joining us
See you in 2027!
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2026 National Conference
Local Development
in Ireland
Bridging Policy, People and Place