From politicians to the public, hundreds gather to reimagine the concept and role of economic growth in Ireland

Posted on: 25 June 2024

Attendees will explore current challenges and lay firm foundations for a wellbeing economy for the island, with the overarching goal being to shape the future of Ireland’s economy.

At the top of the agenda is the question of how Ireland can follow a growing number of other countries in developing an economy to serve its people and the planet, rather than the other way around; instead of treating economic growth as an end in and of itself, a wellbeing economy treats human and planetary needs as the cornerstone of a sustainable and fair society.

Among the many key events are a plenary discussion focused on the role of universities in rethinking growth, promoting a just transition and advancing climate justice, and a conversation on rethinking growth with Paschal Donohoe, Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform of Ireland.

Trinity speakers, Prof. Jane Stout, Vice Provost for Biodiversity & Climate Action; Prof. Anna Davies, School of Natural Sciences; and Prof. Clare Kelly, School of Psychology, and the Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience, ahead of the conference.

Dr Linda Doyle, Provost of Trinity College Dublin, said: “I am very happy that the Rethinking Growth Conference is taking place here in Trinity. People and planet should be at the heart of how a global economy is structured.

“Universities, as places of research, teaching and thinking, have such an important role to play in the any conversation about the future role of economic growth. There are already significant discussions here in Trinity about how we, as a college community, can better live within our ecological ceiling while strengthening our social foundation.”

Paschal Donohoe, Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform,  said: “Over the course of the last few years, Ireland has made significant progress in terms of developing a well-being perspective within the whole-of-year budgetary process. The Well-being Framework has been used to inform discussion of budgetary priorities in a variety of different ways, as a theme at the National Economic Dialogue, as a way of charting our progress as a society and to examine the balance of how money is allocated across the whole of the policy environment.

"These are important initial steps, and the Government is committed to the ongoing development of a well-being perspective within public policy and budgetary processes in Ireland.”

Dr Peter Doran is Senior Lecturer in the Law School at Queen's University Belfast, founding member of the Wellbeing Economy Alliance for the island of Ireland, and Vice-Chair of the Rethinking Growth Conference Ireland 2024. He said: “Our all-island conference on Rethinking Growth will be a landmark in the policy and academic debate about the future of our economies.

"Our climate and wider socio-ecological emergency is driven – fundamentally – by a dominant economic system, which has systematically sought to externalise or transfer the costs to people and nature. The Wellbeing Economy Alliance is about convening and curating alternative ways of flourishing for people and planet.”

Clare Kelly, Associate Professor in the School of Psychology at Trinity, and the Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience, is one of the speakers at the conference. She said: “The major crises of global warming, ecological destruction, and social inequality – such as our housing and cost-of-living problems – are evidence that the a global economic system that aspires to infinite economic growth on a finite planet is no longer working.

"This is why we instead need a wellbeing economy that enables people and the planet to thrive. We hope the next two days will provide the spark that makes the difference to Ireland’s future in this regard.”

The conference, organised by the Wellbeing Economy Alliance Ireland Hub, builds on the influential Beyond Growth Conference, a cross-party initiative of 20 Members of the European Parliament, which took place in May 2023.

A full schedule of the events is available at: https://rethinking-growth.ie/conference-programme-2/

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