Kilkenny County Councillor graduates from Climate Learning Program
AILG announces renewed partnership with UCC as Councillors from across the country graduate from Climate Learning Program
The Association of Irish Local Government (AILG) has announced its renewed partnership with the University College Cork (UCC) in supporting the Climate Learning Program which was launched last year.
AILG President and Killkenny Cllr. Pat Fitzpatrick made the announcement at the ceremony of completion at University College Cork which celebrated the first students of the Certificate in Continuing Professional Development in Climate Crisis and Local Government.
Speaking at the event, Cllr. Fitzpatrick said: “AILG are again delighted to partner with UCC in offering their bespoke Level 7 Certificate in Continuing Education Professional Development in Climate Crisis and Local Government to our Local Authority Elected Members. AILG are particularly proud that 24 of our members completed the course in 2022 and have received their level 7 certificate. It is a tremendous personal achievement for them and for AILG, as we continue to achieve our goal of developing our Bespoke Externally Accredited Training Programme for our Elected Members.”
Assistant Director of ACE, Lyndsey El Amoud added: "The climate crisis is one of the most significant global challenges of our time. UCC has been one of the universities leading the charge on this agenda for quite a few years now. We in ACE at UCC are delighted to partner with AILG in the delivery of this course to help increase the knowledge and skills of local government councillors to help tackle this global issue in a local way. Working together is the only way forward now!"
Cllr Dollard of Kilkenny County Council who graduated from the course said: “It was great to study with councillors from various different parties and share our experiences and concerns for the impact of climate change on our local areas. It can be difficult to see what climate change and carbon emissions reduction means for people in local communities and as individuals.
“The course was really helpful in understanding our obligations under the law but also making connections between problems we experience in our communities and solutions that also help us reduce our carbon emissions. Many people are already living sustainable lives in that they don’t waste much or buy much.
“They want to help and as elected members we have a duty to provide leadership in this. We can only do that if we have the correct understanding ourselves on what can and must be done to lead change at local government”