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Reclaiming Europe’s Promise: The Quality Jobs Agenda and the Next Social Contract
Europe stands at a turning point. In her address to the IIEA, Esther Lynch, General Secretary of the ETUC, argues that Europe’s competitiveness renewal lies not in deregulation and decline, but in combining investment and social justice. The next Social Contract needs to deliver a Quality Jobs Agenda to boost collective bargaining, drive fair transitions, deliver fair wages, end exploitation, increase investment for a European Industrial Policy. She calls for all public investment to deliver social conditionalities ensuring every euro creates quality jobs and ends the race to the bottom. The next Social Contract must be something all workers can rely on not just something they read about, every job should be a quality job, and all workers should be free from fear about tomorrow. About the Speaker: Esther Lynch is the General Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation. Previously, Ms Lynch was Deputy General Secretary at the ETUC from 2019 to 2022, following four years as Confederal Secretary. Esther led on social dialogue, collective bargaining and wage policy, trade union rights, gender equality. She has extensive trade union experience at Irish, European and international levels, starting with her election as a shop steward in the 1980s. Before coming to the ETUC, she was the Legislation and Social Affairs Officer with the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU), where she took part in negotiations on Ireland’s National Social Partner Agreements. As Deputy General Secretary and as Confederal Secretary she led successful actions aimed at improving workers and trade union rights in legislative initiatives such as the Directive on Adequate Minimum Wages, the Transparent and Predicable Working Conditions Directive and the Whistleblowing Directive, she also ran a successful campaign that mobilised support for the European Pillar of Social Rights and the ETUC’s ‘Europe Needs a Pay Rise’ campaign. In addition to securing the adoption of 15 legally binding occupational exposure limits to protect workers from exposure to carcinogens, as well as concluding social partners’ agreements on digitalisation and on reprotoxins. A lifelong feminist, Esther is pushing for measures to end the undervaluing of work predominantly done by women.
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23:30
Finland’s Futures Ecosystem
In this IIEA webinar, the panel takes a deep dive into Finland’s Futures Ecosystem — a unique network of public institutions, research bodies, civil society, and private sector actors working together to shape long-term thinking and strategic foresight. This panel provides an overview of the key components, actors, and processes that drive futures work in Finland, offering insights into how collaboration, policy, and innovation come together to anticipate and navigate change. This panel event follows on from an address entitled Finland’s Futures Ecosystem in a European Context by Joakim Strand, the Finnish Minister for European Affairs and Ownership Steering. This webinar will also be followed by a further panel event that focuses on the Irish approach to foresight and what can be learnt from the Finnish experience. This event was organised in conjunction with the UCD Centre for Innovation, Technology and Organisation. Panelists include: Elina Kiiski-Kataja, Senior Lead of Foresight & Insight at Sitra, the Finnish Innovation Fund that helps Finland anticipate the future; Maria Höyssä, Senior Advisor to the Committee for the Future at the Parliament of Finland & Senior Research Fellow at the Finland's Futures Research Centre; Vera Djakonoff, Senior Expert, Anticipatory Governance at Demos Helsinki, an independent think tank that helps build capacities to instigate and sustain essential transitions; Dr Kevin Deegan, Vice President for Innovation & Insight at Valio, Finland's biggest food exporter
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38:29
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38:29
Denmark’s Green Tripartite Agreement: A New Model for Ireland's Agriculture and Climate Policy?
In 2024, Denmark reached a landmark Green Tripartite Agreement, introducing the world’s first agricultural climate tax as part of a comprehensive package of measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, restore nature, improve biodiversity, and tackle nitrogen pollution. This pioneering policy framework is poised to transform Danish agriculture and rural landscapes over the coming decades. This webinar features insights from Johannes Flatz of CONCITO and Erik Jørgensen of the Danish Agriculture & Food Council, who will outline the negotiation process behind the Agreement and assess its implications for the Danish agri-food sector, climate policy, and rural development. From an Irish perspective, Dr. Maria Snell of Macra na Feirme and Ailbhe Gerrard of Talamh Beo and Brookfield Farm will consider the opportunities and challenges for Ireland in delivering on climate and biodiversity targets within the farming community, exploring how elements of the Danish model might be adapted to the current policy landscape in Ireland. Bringing together Danish and Irish viewpoints, this discussion examines the design, implementation, and adaptation of ambitious agricultural climate measures across contrasting European settings, and the potential role such agreements can play in aligning environmental objectives with rural prosperity. Speaker bios: Johannes Flatz is a Climate Analyst in CONCITOs programme on food and consumption. Johannes works as a climate analyst with a focus on analysis of European agricultural policies. Johannes is particularly focused on the analysis of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and the regulation of carbon emissions from the agricultural sector. Johannes has a master’s degree in environmental economics from the University of Copenhagen. Erik Jørgensen is the Chief Consultant at the Climate & Energy, Danish Agriculture & Food Council. Maria Snell is a Senior Policy Executive at Macra na Feirme, Ireland’s national organisation representing young farmers and rural youth. She holds a PhD in Environmental Science from the UK, where she worked on projects focused water quality, habitat management, and ecological health in agricultural catchments. Maria returned home to join Macra, where she works to ensure the voices of rural youth are represented in shaping sustainable agricultural, rural development and environmental policy. Ailbhe Gerrard is a farmer, beekeeper, and agricultural educator, and the founder of Brookfield Farm in Co. Tipperary. She is also a leading member of Talamh Beo, the Irish branch of La Via Campesina, and has been recognised for her innovative agroecological farming practices and advocacy for community-led food systems.
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1:30:40
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1:30:40
Full Circle: from Partition to a Re-Imagined Ireland?
According to journalist and author Philip Stephens, for David Lloyd George the Partition of Ireland was a means to an end, an escape route from the Irish question in British politics, and a war against Irish Republicanism that Britain could not win. He argues that for Michael Collins the Free State was a first steppingstone to a united, independent Ireland and that over subsequent decades both parties misread the meaning of the Treaty. In his address to the IIEA and following the release of his new book These Divided Isles: Britain and Ireland, Past and Future, Mr Stephens discusses how he thinks the British assumed they could wash their hands of Ireland, North as well as South, and how Ireland judged that all that was required for reunification was British withdrawal. Mr Stephens also proposes that as the prospect of 32-county Ireland draws closer, both governments must avoid repeating these mistakes. Speaker bio: Philip Stephens is a writer and historian. He is a Contributing Editor at the Financial Times, and the author of Inside-Out, a regular column on Substack. He is also a Visiting Senior Fellow at the School for Transnational Governance of the European University Institute, a Richard von Weizsacker Fellow at the Bosch Academy in Berlin, an Honorary Governor at the Ditchley Foundation, and a member of Aspen Italia, Rome. He serves on the steering group of the Franco-British Colloque. His latest book Britain Alone: the Path from Suez to Brexit, was published by Faber. He has won the three main prizes in British political journalism, being named as winner of the David Watt prize for Outstanding Political Journalism, as Political Journalist of the Year by the UK Political Studies Association, and as Political Journalist of the Year in the British Press Awards. He is the author of Politics and the Pound, a study of British economic and European policy, and of Tony Blair, a biography of the former prime minister.
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25:19
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25:19
Reimagining Democracy: Participatory Democracy and the Future of Democratic Innovation
Amid democratic backsliding, civic disillusionment, and growing threats to democratic values, driven by authoritarianism, polarisation, and disinformation, there is now an urgent case to promote democratic resilience and renewal. In this event an expert panel discusses alternative approaches to democracy, including direct democracy, deliberative democracy, and other forms of democratic experimentation. This event examines the practice of direct democracy by referendum in Switzerland, and the practice of deliberative democracy by Citizens Assemblies in Ireland. The event will explore what lessons can be learnt from these examples and their relevance for other democracies. This event is organised in collaboration with the Embassy of Switzerland in Ireland. The panel for this event include: Associate Professor Joseph Lacey, Founding Director of the Centre for Democracy Research, School of Politics and International Relations, University College Dublin; Professor Daniel Kübler, Professor at the Department of Political Science and Director of the Centre for Democracy Studies, University of Zurich Louise Caldwell, Member of the Board of Directors for People Powered: Global Hub for Participatory Democracy, and former member of the Irish Citizens Assembly 2016 – 2018 and it was moderated by: Susan Daly, Managing Editor, Journal Media
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