CHURCH LEADERS HAVE called on Taoiseach Micheál Martin to use Ireland’s presidency of the EU Council to accelerate projects which are for the “public benefit”.

Martin this morning met in Government Buildings with a joint delegation from the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE) and the Conference of European Churches (CEC).

The meeting was organised in the context of Ireland’s presidency of the EU Council and the groups hope to have a further meeting with Martin at the end of Ireland’s six-month stint with the presidency to see “what the impact” of today’s meeting was.

It is common practice for COMECE and CEC to meet with the EU presidencies and the meetings are described as a “real opportunity for Churches to give a contribution to the priorities of each EU presidency”.

COMECE comprises the Catholic Bishops’ Conferences of all member states of the European Union, while the CEC brings together 115 churches from Orthodox, Protestant, and Anglican traditions across Europe. 

Archbishop Eamon Martin, the leader of the Catholic Church in Ireland, and Archbishop of Dublin Dermot Farrell were present. 

The CEC’s delegation was led by Reverend Michael Jackson, Archbishop of Dublin in the Church of Ireland.

The discussion covered a range of issues, including social cohesion, peace and security, migration and asylum policies, and EU enlargement.

‘Ossification of regulation’

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Archbishop Jackson remarked that “one of the interesting things” that Martin said to the delegation was about the “ossification of regulation”.

He said Martin informed them of an “astonishing statistic, that it took up to 11 years to get from concept to delivery of anything that might actually make that difference to people’s lives”.

Bishop Mariano Crociata, President of COMECE at a press conference with Archbishop Michael Jackson, Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin. JOHN MCELROY JOHN MCELROY

Jackson said Martin informed them that “one of the things he hoped Ireland might bring” to the presidency of the EU Council “would be a recognition of the acceleration of this process”.

“If it were a wind farm or something of that nature, where actually the manifest public benefit is just looking at us, and yet takes 11 years to get from concept to delivery.”

Elsewhere, Jackson said the meeting focused on the “impact of artificial intelligence” and the impact it may have on future EU budgets. 

Jackson said the delegation also discussed migration and the need for “enhanced humanitarian aid”.

“If conditions were actually more congenial to the sustaining of stable and flourishing life in countries of origin, there would not be the same need and quest for people to consider the horrific option of migration,” said Jackson.

‘Constructive meeting’

Meanwhile, Jackson said those gathered discussed Gaza and that Martin expressed “great concern that it’s a no-entry zone”. 

Jackson also pointed to the exclusion of journalists from Gaza and expressed concerns that certain “perspectives are not coming out”.

Jackson said the delegation also brought up risks to freedom of expression and added that this runs in parallel with religious freedom.

Martin meanwhile described the meeting as “warm, constructive and engaging” and noted that the ”need to develop a strategic approach to peace and resolution of conflict was underlined”.

He said there was also agreement on the “importance of nurturing, protecting and respecting civic space”.