Integration and Identities in Europe

–
The City of Dublin Forum
Chester Beatty Library, Dublin Castle
Wednesday 11th March 2009, 9am sharp
Photograph courtesy of Gilles Favier, Agence VU’
The Office for Integration of Dublin City Council,
Notre Europe and Agence VU’ invite you to a discussion forum
on Wednesday 11th March 2009
Integration and Identities in Europe –
The City of Dublin Forum
discussing the making of contemporary
European Identity from an Irish Perspective
introduced by
Dr. Garret FitzGerald,
Chancellor of the NUI and former Taoiseach
with lecturers to include Michael D. Higgins,
Karolina Szmagalska, Fintan O’Toole, and Hugo Hamilton
Chester Beatty Library, Dublin Castle
at 9am sharp
followed by the opening of
The European Works Photography Exhibition
by the Lord Mayor of Dublin Eibhlin Byrne
City Hall Dublin
at 1pm
A Dublin City Dialogue on Integration
chaired by Maria Hegarty will then be held in
Chester Beatty Library
at 2.30pm
Places Limited
RSVP: integration@dublincity.ie
by Friday 6th March



Integration and Identities in Europe
The City of Dublin Forum
Featuring the
European Works Photography Exhibition
“As Europeans, we have common interests – interests that we must learn to advance together. Beyond interests, we must be able to meet the challenges
of memory and to build a common vision. To know our origins can better enable us to found this common vision. It is through the dialectic between ideal and necessity, between memory and reasoned discernment, between recognition
of what was and the invention of what will be, that Europe is being built”
Jacques Delors, Founding President of Notre Europe
Nearly twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, and five years after the enlargement of May 2004, the transformations across Europe have acquired unprecedented dimensions. Hundreds of thousands of Europeans have been able to uproot themselves from their familiar surroundings and to cross borders in order to go live, work, or study elsewhere. Within the new frames posed by the unification of Europe, they establish novel links; they re-negotiate their primary identities; they form and transform themselves. What are the implications in terms of our relationship to the other? How do these changes affect our senses
of belonging? To what extent do they alter our vision of the past and our views
for the future?
In conjunction with Notre Europe (a European think-tank founded by Jacques Delors), the Office for Integration of Dublin City Council will host a discussion forum entitled “Integration and Identities in Europe – The City of Dublin Forum”, on 11th March 2009. It will commence with an informed exchange of views on the making of contemporary European identity, followed by a session which
addresses the issue of integration in our city.
Contemporary forms and meanings of European belonging
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 the 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 Łódz, Malmö, Timişoara, 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 together we can 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 Poles, Chinese, Lithuanian, and
Nigerians amongst others.
Provisional programme
Wednesday 11th March 2009
PART 1
Register of Participants at Chester Beatty Library, Dublin Castle
Welcome of guests and speakers
Introduction of the Forum by Dr. Garret FitzGerald
Chair introduces the speakers
Michael D. Higgins
Culture, memory, imagination, migration and the city
Dr. Karolina Szmagalska Follis – NUI Maynooth
In or out? – Shifting senses of belonging on Europe’s
Eastern borderlands
Fintan O’Toole
Lecture’s title to be confirmed
Hugo Hamilton
Outsiders and insiders
Tea / Coffee Break
Chair opens the discussion to the floor
Panel
Chair, Aziliz Gouez (Notre Europe), 5 speakers
Chair wraps up and closes the Forum
Guests travel from Chester Beatty Library to the City Hall
(5 minutes walk)
9.00am
9.15am
9.25am
9.50am
9.55am
10.15am
10.35am
10.55am
11.15am
11.30am
12.20am
12.30pm
PART 2
Welcome of guests at the European Works photography exhibition
City Hall, Dame Street
Marc Prüst (Agence VU’) introduces the exhibition
Gilles Favier, Photographer, presents his work
The Lord Mayor of Dublin, Eibhlin Byrne, formally opens the exhibition
Light Lunch
1.00pm
1.05pm
1.10pm
1.20pm
1.30pm
PART 3
2.30pm
3.30pm
4.30pm
Opening of Integration – A City Dialogue
Chester Beatty Library
Chair
Maria Hegarty (Equality Strategies)
Panel
Gerry Folan, Office for Integration, Dublin City Council, and invitees (TBC)
Tea/Coffee Break
Conclusion and close