Category: Uncategorised

Members of the East Border Region (EBR) Board and the Newry Mourne and Down – Louth Memorandum of Understanding Committee met with MEP and Vice President of the European Parliament Mairead McGuinness on Friday 22^nd July and Matt Carthy and Martina Anderson MEPs on Monday 25^th July in the Canal Court Hotel, Newry to discuss the potentially severe impact on the people of the cross region of the UK’s decision to leave the European Union.

EBR has been a key player in the cross border funding arena since 1976 and in the last 15 years has delivered over €40 million of European funds which has helped the cross border region to grow and prosper.  EBR has been working on behalf of Local Authorities to develop cross border and Transnational EU Projects to enhance the economy of our region.  EBR are involved in 19 EU projects to the value of €132million and these projects are now at risk as SEUPB have advised that all EU Programmes, including INTERREG VA and Peace IV are forming part of the Brexit negotiations:

SEUPB Statement on EU referendum decision 24 June 2016

“It is anticipated that all EU Programmes including PEACE IV and INTERREG VA will form part of the discussions that are to take place between the devolved administrations, UK government and the European Union during the upcoming negotiations”

Mairead McGuinness MEP stated: “The impact of the Brexit vote on the border region is hugely significant. Ongoing and important development work in the area, funded jointly by the EU and the two Governments risks being stalled completely unless there is clarity about the future of the funding mechanisms and renewed commitment to implementing projects worth in the region of €132 million. The project promoters need clarity about the future and I will work to try and ensure that this impasse does not negatively impact on these projects. In the discussions about Brexit, it is important to remember that the impact is at local level, among communities and businesses and nowhere is it more critical to ensure continuity and certainty than in the border region of my constituency of Midlands North West.”

Matt Carthy and Martina Anderson welcomed interventions from Organisations such as EBR “We encourage groups to raise their voices to ensure that the wishes of those from Ireland who voted to remain are respected. The border region has suffered immensely as a result of partition and hardening partition will only have a negative impact on the lives of the people who live, work and study in the border region”.

In addition to working on cross border collaboration, EBR has built up excellent partner networks with other EU member states and has devoted considerable time and resources to the development of transnational projects.  EBR are Lead Partner on 7 transnational projects and have been working with organisations in Spain, France, Portugal, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Norway and the Faroe Islands.

All of these cross border and transnational projects are at various stages in the approval process; no Letters of Offer have been issued for any of this funding.

EBR have met with Lady Sylvia Hermon MP and Mickey Brady MP as well as a number of MLA’s and TD’s from the cross border region over the past number of weeks. A meeting is also scheduled with Margaret Ritchie MP on Thursday 28^th June.  EBR will endeavour to continue to ensure the needs of the people of the cross border region are heard at both national Government level and on the wider European stage.

East Border Region were delighted to welcome colleagues from Iceland, Norway and the Faroe Islands to Dundalk, Co. Louth last week to take part in our first partner meeting of our Northern Periphery & Artic Programme project entitled “Near Zero Energy”.

EBR secured preparatory funding under the NPA 2014-2020 to develop a project based on the Recast Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD2) which requires that new buildings occupied and owned by Public Authorities erected after 2018, and all other new buildings erected after 2020, must be ‘nearly zero energy’.

Colleagues were greeted by the EBR Board and Chairman Cllr Michael Ruane extended a warm welcome to our transnational visitors.

Biodiversity/Heritage Officers from EBR Local Authorities participated in a 3 day study visit to Leuven during January. The Study visit was entitled “Connecting Urban and Rural Communities via Green Corridors”. During the 3 day visit delegates met with a number of successful Green Infrastructure projects which will help inform a future Green Infrastructure project within the EBR.

East Border Region held its Annual General Meeting today in the Four Seasons Hotel, Monaghan. Newly Elected Chairman Cllr Michael Ruane was delighted to accept his role as Chairman of 2016 “Ilook forward to my year ahead as Chair with enthusiasm and anticipation. I know it is going to be an extremely busy 40th year with the commencement of many new ventures and all the new challenges that a new programming period brings”

Vice Chairs newly elected were Cllr Eugene Cassidy from Meath County Council and Cllr Angus Carson from Ards and North Down Borough Council.

The Chairman, Members and staff of East Border Region would like to express our deepest sympathies to Cllr Joan Baird and the Hanna family at the sudden death of former Councillor John Hanna.

John was a member of East Border Region since 1998 until earlier this year and was a former Chairman of the Organisation.

Please be advised that as a mark of respect the EBR Members Forum meeting scheduled for Thursday 25^th June 2015 has been postponed.

Please click on the link below to view the latest news from East Border Region.

EBR 12th Edition Newsletter

Please click on link below to access news and updates from East Border Region.

Spring2015

At its Annual General Meeting held on Thursday 11^th December 2014, in the Canal Court Hotel, Newry East Border Region were delighted to provide members with an overview of the success of the Organisation during the past year.  The EBR is a cross border local authority led Organisation, based in Newry, who are part-financed by the European Union’s INTERREG IVA Cross-border Programme.

Speaking at the conference Ms Pamela Arthurs, Chief Executive provided members with an overview of the activity of EBR over the year and of the 11 INTERREG IVA funded projects which EBR administer. The 11 projects total just over €15.5 million and span the fields of Enterprise, Tourism and Environment.

The focus of this year’s AGM was on the promotion of the East Border Region as a smart, sustainable and inclusive partnership which is aligned with the current EU2020 targets.  During proceedings members were informed of the success of EBR projects through dissemination of the tangible results which already have been achieved. Benefits experienced range from cost savings through energy management, new job creation, collaborative business opportunities and networking, tourism promotion and energy savings through employment of renewable technologies. For a full breakdown of East Border Region projects please see www.eastborderregion.com

The East Border Region Board appointed Cllr Peter Savage from Louth County Council as Chairman for the incoming year while Cllr Arnold Hatch from Craigavon Borough Council and Cllr Gillian Toole from Meath County Councils were elected as Vice-Chairs.

Speaking at the Annual General Meeting Cllr Savage stated that he was delighted and honoured to accept the position of Chairperson of the East Border Region Board.  He paid tribute to the outgoing Chair, Councillor Alan McDowell and stated that he hoped that he could emulate his predecessors’ achievements. Cllr Savage also spoke of the challenges ahead for EBR “The period between funding programmes is often a difficult and uncertain period and this is no different for EBR. We hope to work with our Local Authority members and SEUPB in order to ensure as smooth a transition as possible into the new programming period. We are also faced with changes in our Northern Local Authorities with the reform of Local Government. I would like to wish our colleagues who are elected to the new shadow Councils well with their new roles and pay tribute to those who are ending their careers in elected office”.

The East Border Region Board is a local authority led organisation comprising ten member councils, Counties Louth, Meath and Monaghan, Newry and Mourne, Down and Banbridge Districts, Armagh

City and District, Craigavon, Ards and North Down Boroughs. In recent years the Board has established itself as being at the forefront of cross border economic development. In the incoming year the Board will be focussing on the continued roll out and closure of the remaining INTERREG IVA projects, developing projects for submission to the forthcoming INTERREG V Programmes and developing links with our colleagues in Europe.

Pictured from left to right: Ms Pamela Arthurs Chief Executive EBR, Cllr Alan McDowell, outgoing Chair, Cllr Peter Savage incoming Chair for 2015, Cllr Gillian Toole, Vice Chair EBR and Cllr Arnold Hatch, Vice Chair EBR.

Click on image to enlarge or click on pdf below

Geo-Community Week ad

Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Business 20 November 2014

The iOTA Programme is hosting an Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Business networking event to celebrate Global Entrepreneurship Week. The event is free to attend, the key speaker is Bobby Kerr, Former founding Dragon on Dragon’s Den Ireland. To celebrate Global Entrepreneurship Week David Bradley, Director GEW Ireland will give an address. There will be business case studies from climote, Keen Nutrition, AsssetIQ and SlackPress. PKF-FPM will deliver a workshop on Raising funding for innovative products and Paul Millar will deliver a workshop on Managing innovation – Risk and Reward.

To REGISTER to attend email: aveen@eastborderregion.com

Telephone 0044 28 3025 2684 or Log onto Eventbrite www.eventbrite.com search iOTA Programme

IOTA Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Business invite