Social Security

Five Irish citizens were among 150 citizens from across the EU who took part in the summit in Brussels.  They were Evelyn Boylan from Scotstown, County Monaghan; Noreen Kelly, Ballyvolane, Cork City; Niall O’Reilly from Maynooth, County Kildare; and Dubliners Brid Bowles, from Lusk and Michael Morrissey, Cabinteely (foreground) who was asked to share a platform with European Commission President  Jose Manuel Barroso and other  top policy-makers  

Five Irish citizens were among 150 citizens from across the EU who took part in the summit in Brussels.  They were Evelyn Boylan from Scotstown, County Monaghan; Noreen Kelly, Ballyvolane, Cork City; Niall O’Reilly from Maynooth, County Kildare; and Dubliners Brid Bowles, from Lusk and Michael Morrissey, Cabinteely (foreground) who was asked to share a platform with European Commission President  Jose Manuel Barroso and other  top policy-makers.

 

Five Irish citizens from Cork, Monaghan, Kildare and Dublin were among 150 citizens from across the EU who took part in the summit in Brussels.  They were Evelyn Boylan from Scotstown, County Monaghan; Noreen Kelly, Ballyvolane, Cork City; Niall O’Reilly from Maynooth, County Kildare; and Dubliners Brid Bowles, from Lusk and Michael Morrissey, Cabinteely (foreground) who was asked to share a platform with European Commission President  Jose Manuel Barossa and other  top policy-makers.

Now that national consultations have taken place in all 27 Member States, discover the European citizens' recommendations for the economic and social future of the EU, by clicking here.

Stronger EU regulation of financial institutions and sharing information on best practice in healthcare and labour laws across Europe are among the top ten recommendations from the Irish participants in a Europe-wide citizens consultation on how the Union should best address current challenges. (Full recommendations list below and on www.forumoneurope.ie ).

The Irish consultation, organised by the National Forum On Europe, was held in Dublin Castle over the weekend and was webcast on RTÉ.ie/Live. Similar consultations have been taking place in all twenty seven EU countries.

EUdebate2009.eu is a website in six languages, and it's set to spice up the 2009 European electionsLaunched by the European magazine cafebabel.com, EUdebate2009.eu is an independent internet site, the first web 2.0 platform to get the opinion leaders of the people of Europe talking with European political parties.

A survey has shown that awareness of the EU's 112 emergency telephone number in Ireland is among the lowest in Europe.  Only 9% of Irish citizens said they had received information about the number, third from bottom of all 27 member states.  Only 16% said they were aware they could call the number from anywhere inside the EU, compared to 58% in the Czech Republic, 56% in Luxembourg and 50% in Poland.

17 leading web firms have signed for the first time a European agreement to improve the safety of under 18s who use social networking sites.   These include Arto, Bebo, Dailymotion, Facebook, Giovani.it, Google/YouTube, Hyves, Microsoft Europe, Myspace, Nasza-klaza.pl, Netlog, One.lt, Skyrock, StudiVZ, Sulake/Habbo Hotel, Yahoo!Europe, and Zap.lu.   Social networking sites are an emerging social and economic phenomenon, attracting 41.7 million regular users in Europe and changing the way we interact with each other on the Web.

In a report released this week, the European Commission has recommended that Ireland pursues its structural economic reforms. In particular, the Commission thinks that Ireland needs to restore fiscal sustainability and boost productivity. The Commission notes that the Irish economy is vulnerable due to the aftermath of the housing boom and because of the financial crisis. Public spending should be carefully prioritised and productivity strengthened, it says.