The Green-Schools Programme welcomed groups from Spain, Lithuania and Denmark to Dublin last week to celebrate Bike Week and Velo-City 2019. As part of an Erasmus+ Project: Sustainable Mobility, Sustainable Communities, Green-Schools – partnered with Cyclist.ie (Irish Cycling Advocacy Network) – is taking part in a three-year project which will see 25 students from four European countries collaborate to promote cycling, social inclusion and youth empowerment.

Students from St. Tiernan’s Community College, Balally, have already visited Corella, Spain as part of the programme and were assisting with activities and tours in Dublin for their visiting peers. The group took part in the opening plenary session of the Velo-City Conference and toured Trinity College on Tuesday.

On Wednesday the group planted 50 native oak trees on the grounds of St. Tiernan’s Community School to assist with offsetting the carbon from their flights and to commemorate their visit to Ireland. Following the tree planting ceremony they participated in the Velo-City Cycle Parade to St. Anne’s Park from the Convention Centre. On Thursday, the group celebrated Bike Week with biodiversity-themed bike tours of Phoenix Park, foraging and a visit the new TU Dublin campus at Grangegorman.

The aim of the exchange is to form intergenerational relationships and enhance social inclusion through sustainable mobility in the community. Through a combination of workshops, cycling trips and learning experiences around active travel, students will be empowered to lead positive change relating to sustainable mobility in their own communities.

Green-Schools Travel Manager, Jane Hackett welcomed the students to Dublin: “Green-Schools are delighted to be involved in the Erasmus+ project and to welcome our guests to Dublin during this busy week for cycling in Dublin. We hope that these students will become ambassadors for cycling in their schools and communities through sharing ideas, experiences and connecting with each other and with the city of Dublin itself.”

Copenhagen will host an exchange with the same participants in October of the 2019/2020 academic year, followed by a trip to Lithuania in 2020.