During the meeting of the SEDEC commission held on 23 June, members discussed a number of topics, including the European Platform on Combating Homelessness and the Share platform which gathers the sport movement, academia, cities and regions to promote the role of sport and physical activity in regional and local development.
Speaking at the debate on homelessness, which included panelists from the European Commission's Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion (DG EMPL), as well as organisations working on the ground such as FEANTSA and Bruss'Help, EA group president Kieran McCarthy said that homelessness is one of the major problems in his hometown of Cork and that the city council has put a lot of work in housing in services. He stressed the need for the CoR to move away from the debates and create limited working groups with organisations working on the ground in order to do something practical and make concrete change on the ground. "Gathering of best practices is a good place to start," he added.
During the debate "Healthy recovery and resilience through sport and physical activity in the regions and cities", Ms Florencia Van Houdt, Head of the "Sport" Unit in the European Commission's Directorate-General for Education and Culture (DG EAC) presented the SHARE initiative, a project aiming at ensuring that sport and physical activity are adequately taken into account at EU, national, regional and local policy-making. Cllr McCarthy particularly stressed the added value of dedicated sports officers in local authorities, giving the example of Cork and the cooperation the city council has with Sport Ireland, a statutory authority that oversees, and partly funds, the development of sport in Ireland. He mentioned that Sport Ireland has 29 local partnerships with local and regional authorities across the country and that cooperation has led to a number of community projects now being embedded in the city development plan. "This is the way to make changes on the ground," Cllr McCarthy added.
Cllr Declan McDonnell of Galway City Council stressed the importance of sports and physical activity, not only for children and young people's health but also for integration and community-building, especially in cases of children who have a background from foreign countries.
