This report has been put together to provide a summary of the contributions made during the "Creating a Flourishing Irish Society: Wellbeing, Sustainability & Doughnut Economics". An Taisce was honoured to have Kate Raworth as the event's keynote speaker. She is the creator of 'Doughnut Economics'. Her talk set the stage for a series of themed discussions exploring a future for Ireland where we can live within planetary boundaries.

The special event was held at the Irish Museum of Modern Art on the 3^rd of September and co-hosted by An Taisce and An Taisce’s Green Campus Programme.

Pictured at the Irish Museum of Modern Art in September 2024 (from left to right): Doughnut Economics creator Kate Raworth, An Taisce's Director of Education and Community Action, Cathy Baxter and Director of the Centre for One Health, Dr Tony Holohan. Photo: Maxwells

As a unique gathering, the event sought to explore how Ireland can adopt the principles of Doughnut Economics to build a future where human well-being is secured within the planet's ecological limits.

Ireland has an opportunity to lead by example. We see this event as a beginning. This ‘call to action’ serves as a useful way to promote creative thinking around some of Ireland’s systemic challenges to solve them. The goal is to ensure a thriving island — benefitting its people and environment.

The event was enriched by keynote speaker Kate Raworth, the creator of Doughnut Economics, whose model reframes economic priorities to balance human needs with planetary boundaries.

We were also honoured to have Dr Tony Holohan, Director of the Centre for One Health, as our host, contributing his expertise in public health, sustainability, and climate leadership.

Thanks so much to both Minister Eamon Ryan and Minister Pippa Hackett for their visits over the course of the afternoon.

We were also delighted to welcome representatives from government — including from the Department of The Taoiseach and the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform as participants in this collaborative event.

Cathy Baxter, An Taisce's Director of Education and Community Action spoke to the participants about inter-relationships between the organisation's programmes and initiatives. How they work together, creating space for community engagement and long-term commitment to environmental actions across the whole of Irish society.

In her keynote address, Kate Raworth highlighted that, “the ‘economy’ is a social construct. We invent our economy. The good news is that we can reinvent it. Our societies are part of the living world. Our economies need to be aligned with how this planet works. Those are the only laws that we need to be following.”

She added, “we need to move from a divisive economic design to a distributive one, where resources are shared far more equitably with everybody who co-creates them.” Raworth outlined a framework for exploring how these ideas could be practically applied in Ireland.

As Ireland faces critical choices about its future, this event served as a call to action:

• Can Ireland apply the principles of Doughnut Economics to create a society that thrives within ecological boundaries?
• How can we ensure that everyone has access to essential needs such as food, education, housing, and health, while simultaneously safeguarding our ecosystems for future generations?

This World Café-style event invited participants to share diverse perspectives on these crucial questions through three discussion topics:

1. National Economic Policy and Governance: How can Doughnut Economics shape policies that ensure a fairer society and climate action?
2. Urban and Regional Development: How can Doughnut Economics reshape Ireland’s cities and regions for sustainability and climate goals?
3. Community-Level Action and Integration: How can Doughnut Economics empower communities to support biodiversity, climate action, and social justice?

Apparent in the responses were the overall challenges specific for Ireland in this model, outlined on the following pages  in greater detail.

• Participants highlighted the cultural nuances, evident in perceived large urban vs rural gaps. How rural communities can sometimes be left behind.
• Access to public transport can be limited especially outside major urban centres. This included general challenges in Ireland around a lack of spaces where communities can come together.
• Private vs Public ownership of space was also discussed in the context of prioritising sustainable urban life.
• How a connected view of planning needs to be embraced, as so frequently there’s a disjointed approach to providing transport, housing and services.
• There’s an urgency to creating greater sustainable transport options and improve car reduction wherever possible.
• Town and city centres deeply suffer from gridlock and associated emissions.
• Ideas were put forward of how to move beyond non-holistic ideas and embrace co-creation approaches to providing solutions to challenges. For example, local and national competitions on access to resources imposed on communities so the outcome can have the by-product of setting local groups against each other rather than to work together.
• A very strong desire was apparent in how to connect the dots in coordinated and integrated planning.
• Societal equality was viewed as highly valued and ideas of how to bring nature back and be able to listen to local wisdom.
• Importance of the ambition to ensure core-level integrations of biodiversity and sustainable processes into infrastructure projects at a national scale was expressed.
• There were also suggestions of how Ireland needs to learn from climate refugees and integrate collaboration on solutions to the challenges facing us.
• Sharing knowledge and collaboration was a theme that came out across the discussions.

The importance of a well-being focussed economy was particularly prevalent in the National Policy and Governance Discussion. This included suggestions of a minister for well-being and a Citizens Assembly on Well-being.

Full report available to download.