In the sixth episode of the latest series of EU & Me, which is supported by the Department of Foreign Affairs’ Communicating Europe initiative, the focus is on civic society and how children can help shape the future of Europe. Ryan Levis is programme manager for the Blue Star programme, which teaches primary school pupils about European cultures and the EU. He outlines Blue Star's civic society theme for this year, with an eye on the future of Europe. Four primary school pupils outline their vision for the EU 50 years from now. 2072 will mark the centenary of Ireland voting to join the bloc. Ryan Twomey and Joshua Meyer who go to Presentation Monastery, Killarney; Noah Teahan who's a pupil at Abbeydorney National School, and Cian Slattery who's a pupil at Spa National School also outline what they do to make their communities and indeed, the wider world, better places to live in. Minister with responsibility for European Affairs Thomas Byrne gives his reaction to the children's contributions and the grave situation the continent finds itself in with Russia's invasion of Ukraine. An example of the civic society in action was the formation of the Kerry COVID-19 Community Response Forum almost two years ago. Margaret Wrenn who's manager of Killorglin Family Resource Centre and Joseph McCrohan of South Kerry Development Partnership Rural Social Scheme and who's also Tús Scheme manager outline how disparate groups and organisations came together to respond to the coronavirus crisis.
