Cork City Council International Relations Strategy Survey
Project Ireland 2040 forecasts the population of Cork city and suburbs to grow by between 105,000 and 125,000 people (an increase of between 50-60%) by 2040. As a growing city and as an open Atlantic economy, we engage internationally to drive sustainable growth, innovation, exchange best practice, and remain competitive as a European destination of choice for business, students, tourism, while retaining our city’s status as a great place to live.
Cork City Council’s international outreach includes engagement with European cities on projects funded by the European Union, and projects and exchanges with Cork’s six twin cities of San Francisco, Shanghai, Cologne, Rennes, Coventry and Swansea. It also consists of participation in several international city networks, including the UNESCO Learning Cities programme; the World Health Organisation European Healthy Cities Network, and the Rainbow Cities Network of LGBTQ+ friendly cities. Cork City was also selected by the European Commission as a member of the Climate Neutral and Smart Cities networks. Cork City Council has worked to leverage these international contacts to support the international ambitions of city institutions, and the people of Cork city.
Foreign direct investment is very important to the city. There are currently 219 IDA Ireland companies in Cork, employing almost 50,000 people, more than 10,000 of these jobs are connected with the San Francisco Bay Area.
Council’s international outreach is complemented by engagement, along with many non-governmental organisations, with a range of new communities who call Cork home: according to the last census, non-Irish citizens account for 12% of Cork’s population. While we look outwards, we are also mindful of the talent and contributions of these new communities in the development of our city. We are a City of Welcomes. There has also been engagement with traditional Corkonian and affinity diaspora groups who have a role to play in the future of Cork.
International city-to-city engagement and twinning activities are widespread and well-resourced across many European local authorities, however, as a policy area it remains underdeveloped in the Irish local authority context. To this end, Cork City Council are developing an International Relations Strategy to best leverage the value of the city’s international partnerships to support our objectives as a city and increase the benefit to the citizen. This consultation invites stakeholders to consider and inform the future trajectory of this work over the next five years, and to capture our international ambitions and objectives as Ireland’s second city.