A delegation of MEPs from the European Parliament's Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL), visited Ballymun this week as part of a two day official visit, during which they also held a series of meetings with Ministers, members of the Dáil, Government departments and NGOs.

Dublin MEP Emer Costello was a member of the visiting delegation of MEPs, who were also joined by Irish Labour Party TD  John Lyons in Ballymun.

Dublin MEP Emer Costello said: “Ballymun serves as an impressive template for tackling disadvantage and joblessness in Ireland. Our delegation met with Young Ballymun and Ballymun Job Centre, to see how community interventions are best placed to deliver real and meaningful responses to the crisis.

The Delegation of MEPs discussed the impact of the crisis on communities like Ballymun and what can be done at European level to tackle it.  A key initiative which we spoke about was the Youth Guarantee and how this could help communities like Ballymun. Ballymun Jobs Centre has been involved in many innovative European Projects such as the Leonardo da Vinci work and  it was fascinating to see how much of the learning from these projects have been mainstreamed into the day to day work of the Jobs Centre.

John Lyons TD  said: “'I was very pleased that the EMPL Committee came to Ballymun to hear about the pioneering work Young Ballymun is doing in the areas of early years learning and family support.

“The Committee also heard from Mick Creedon from the Ballymun Job Centre about their excellent work on local employment strategies, including their application for the Ballymun Youth Guarantee pilot-programme. I know that the committee members were very impressed with what they heard on their visit and left knowing that Ballymun is well served by the staff of both the Job Centre and Young Ballymun.”