MEP moments, Making Europe Personal, are events structured according to agonistic deliberation. It articulates a new format of democratic participation where conflicts of opinions are brought back into the democratic debate rather than a search for a rational consensus. The aim is to nurture a diversity of opinions and focus on developing the matching recommendations or suggestions for action. The event which took place on 14 November saw Eoin Drea, senior policy adviser for the Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies think tank in Brussels, and Sadhbh O’Neill, Senior policy adviser for Friends of the Earth, presenting their expert opinion arguing either side of the question: ‘can renewable energies fix the climate crisis?’. The rest of the event gave the floor to participants to develop their own pro and anti arguments and then their recommendations after placing themselves on a scale of 0 to 10.

AT the 2023 PASTAI conference, DABtheEU was invited to present the resources available to Junior Cycle and Senior Cycle teachers on teaching about Ireland and the EU as well as European citizenship. The presentation also included our innovative 8 week programme for TY on what it is to be an active European citizen.

Philip Muprhy and Emmanuelle Schon-Quinlivan travelled to Belfast to present their research regarding powerful knowledge and teachers' efficicacy in the teaching of politics and active European citizenship. It was an engaging session with some members of the newly appointed Electoral Commission.

The Hub in Active European Citizenship travelled to Queens University Belfast in September for the 53^rdAnnual UACES Conference. UACES is the University Association for Contemporary European Studies. With 103 panels and over 300 presentations, the conference was informative and inspiring on various aspects of contemporary European studies.

The Hub hosted a workshop on ‘Toolkits for Teaching and Learning European Integration from Childhood to Adulthood‘. Emmanuelle and Trish opened with interactive demonstrations of the BFGtoEU programme for primary students. Philip followed with participative activities from the DABtheEU programme for post-primary students. With scholars from Germany, Netherlands, Cyprus, United Kingdom and Italy attending, the workshop provided great interaction on teaching European politics, and particularly the European Union, in engaging ways.

From 10 to 14 July, 19 amazing teachers came to UCC to share experiences on how to best teach active European citizenship. BFGtoEU is the only programme in Ireland which offers hands-on and engaging lesson plans, lesson slides, quizzes and activities to discuss and experience active citizenship. 

We had an incredibly enriching week of discussions and laughter! We are all looking forward going back to the classrooms with the pedagogical and cognitive tools to give a voice to the students on Ireland and its role in the EU. 

On 7 May 2023, UCC’s Hub in Active European Citizenship organised Ireland’s first Europe Day Festival.

Over 700 people came to Cork City Hall to engage in over 20 EU-themed games and activities, attend 10 live performances on the theme of EU values, and play our EU treasure hunt. 

Pencil it in for 5 May 2024!

Ireland has been a member of the European Union for 50 years. Many events are organised to celebrate this milestone. We wanted to do something a little more different, more festive and inclusive of the entire civil society, including our youngest members.

On 7 May, in Cork City Hall, from 1pm to 5pm, we will have an afternoon of fun with many child friendly activities, others more focused on teenagers and parents as well. You can download the full list of activities as well as the lay out of the Cork City Concert Hall and Millenium Hall for the day just here: Final info brochure EDF. 

From 11 to 14 April 2023, 13 primary school teachers and 13 secondary school teachers, teaching Civic Social and Political Education, Business, History and English, went on a study trip to the European institutions and Ypres. The trip was coordinated by the Irish College of Leuven and included a talk by an academic from the Leuven University. We first visited the Flanders Field Museum in Ypres which gave us such an hindsight of the trauma WWI and WWII inflicted. We then went to the European Parliament where we enegaged with MEPs Sean Kelly and Deirdre Clune. We also visited the Irish Permanent Representation and the European Commission. Finally on the last day, we debriefed the trip and discussed how the information and material could be used in class. 

On 24 January, some members of the Hub in Active European Citizenship's team were delighted to attend the launch by the Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheal Martin TD of the Into Europe: IRELAND & TE EU 1973-2023 campaign. It is composed of 12 bilingual panels which trace Ireland's journey in the EU and the impact the membership has had on the country. 

The Tánaiste delivered a passionate speech on the necessity of keeping Irish citizens engaged on EU matters. The Hub in Active European Citizenship Hub was delighted to take part and meet so many actors of European life in Ireland. 

Thsi exhibition is going to start travelling the country, going mostly to public libraries. The Hub will be involved in many activities associated with the Into Europe exhibition.