Councillor Maria Byrne:

In essence, our message is that the lessons from the previous Lisbon strategy have not been learned and that Europe 2020 will fail to deliver, if it remains a purely top-down and non-inclusive process. We suggest that the mid-term review must result in a stronger commitment to the partnership principle and that the European Commission should take a firmer line in assessing the nature and extent of the involvement of stakeholders in national reform programmes of member states.

In an Irish context, the approach to Europe 2020 and the national reform programme process has plenty of room for improvement. As we see it, discussion on national targets is mainly confined within a number of Departments, with measures selected largely from existing national policy documents to achieve them. Ireland is not alone in this regard but the centralised and closed nature of the process is particularly acute.

Our call for a more open and collaborative approach comes at a time when many of the reforms of the local government system, at local and regional levels, are taking effect. As the committee will be aware, the 2014 Local Government Reform Act provides the legislative basis for an enhanced role for local authorities in economic development. In addition to the creation of the local enterprise offices, LEOs, since April, the Act requires that each local authority establish a dedicated strategic policy committee for economic development which is required to guide and support economic and enterprise development at county level, including through the preparation and delivery of the economic elements of the new local economic and community plans, LECPs. Furthermore, the establishment of the local community development committees, LCDCs, within the local authority structure and their role in preparing and overseeing implementation of the community elements of the LECPs and their management of the social inclusion and community activation programme, SICAP, means that they will have a direct impact on the achievement of the national Europe 2020 targets.

At regional level, the establishment of three new regional assemblies on 1 January 2015 has been described recently by the Minister of State, Deputy Coffey, as an "opportunity for Ireland to implement meaningful policies and to frame new governance institutions to counteract unbalanced development and promote regional recovery". The key function of these new regional assemblies will be to deliver regional planning and economic development through new regional spatial and economic strategies to be developed from 2016 onwards. These strategies will be underpinned to ensure that all relevant public sector bodies with responsibility for economic development and enterprise promotion follow through on implementation. The Minister of State indicated that all relevant agencies will be accountable to the regional assemblies as regards the progress being made towards the achievement of the objectives of the new regional strategies, with a further role for the national oversight and audit commission in this regard. The legislation on these new regional assemblies and their functions will issue shortly, as will a new national planning framework, which will require a whole-of-government view of the national development priorities.

This is what we are proposing when it comes to the Europe 2020 strategy and how its targets can be achieved effectively - a whole-of-government approach which includes national, regional and local government as well as other agencies and key stakeholders. The national reform programme must be compatible with and explicitly reflect, as well as inform, the priorities of the regional spatial and economic strategies, which, in turn, provide a framework for the local community and economic plans. There is now a clear role for local government generally in economic development and we consider that the setting of national Europe 2020 targets and, where necessary, regional targets and the delivery roles required to achieve them needs to reflect this. In this context, we would, therefore, like to see the Department of the Taoiseach provide a roadmap for a more structured, continuous and constructive engagement with stakeholders in this process after the mid-term review. I will leave it at that, but we are happy to respond to any questions and comments that committee may have.