EU Cities Mission - National Mirror Group

The Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications (DECC) has a formal role in supporting the EU Cities Mission, as set out in the 2023 and 2024 Climate Action Plans. In May 2024, the department set up a National Mirror Group to support the cities; the group is made up of representatives from the cities, government departments, national agencies, regional assemblies, academia, business, and civil society. This governance model is based on research and learning from other EU Mission cities.

The five objectives of the group are:

• To ensure a national focus on the Mission and that the cities are fully supported in their ambition to decarbonise by 2030
• To serve as the forum in which cities provide updates at the national level and discuss the enablers and barriers at city level
• To gain support for actions needed and serve as a mechanism to translate discussion into progress
• To assist the cities with their Climate City Contracts and further support needs, such as funding applications, opportunities for collaborative projects
• Specific local authority matters are outside the remit of the National Mirror Group

The group is co-chaired by Professor Brian Ó Gallachóir, UCC MaREI Director and Barry Quinlan, Assistant Secretary General for Climate in the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications.

Cities have a fundamental role to play in addressing climate change. Even for cities with advanced strategies, however, the goal of reaching net-zero emissions remains extremely hard to reach. The participating cities in Ireland, managed by the three local authorities (Cork, Dublin, and Galway City Councils), face significant challenges in participating in this ambitious mission. The fundamental purpose of the Mission approach is to remove barriers inherent to the system. In the Irish context, work is often done in silos which must be addressed in an integrated manner across departments and agencies as climate change poses a challenge to the business-as-usual operation of government at national and local level.

For the EU Cities Mission to be successful, appropriate stakeholders must be involved and decisions made in a timely manner and at the right level of authority. A well-defined and active governance structure has been shown to result in more efficient and effective teams, improved results, reduced risks, and better resource utilisation.

The National Mirror Group provides just that. It provides the three Irish cities the chance to discuss the supports they need at a national, regional, and local level to become climate neutral by 2030. This leads to strong discussions on how members can collaborate and support the cities.

The group meets three times a year, along with additional bilateral meetings, to continue this approach of partnership working and multi-level governance to achieve our climate goals in Ireland's three largest cities.

The meetings include guest speakers from NetZeroCities, the support platform for the Mission, and other Mission cities in Europe to ensure shared European learnings and insights.