Members of EirGrid's Public Engagement team recently attended The Power of Participation – Advancing Public Engagement in Grid Planning event in Brussels.

The event was organised by the Renewables Grid Initiative, the European Commission, and the EU Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators. It focused on advancing the Pact for Engagement, a collective initiative signed in 2023 by EirGrid and several leading European electricity transmission operators. The pact commits its signatories to ensuring that citizens, communities, and stakeholders play a meaningful role in shaping the energy transition and supporting Europe’s climate and energy objectives.

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Sinead Dooley, EirGrid's Head of Public Engagement, participated in a panel discussion examining how to measure and understand effective public engagement. She highlighted key learnings and practical methods for assessing engagement in practice. Emerging findings from EirGrid's research collaboration with University College Cork were also presented at the event.

Speaking during the session, she said: "Engaging with members of the public is essential for delivering critical infrastructure projects and at EirGrid, we are committed to putting citizens and communities at the heart of our decision making. It is only with public support that we can achieve our climate action targets and secure a sustainable supply of electricity for the next generation.

"It's great to be a part of such a strong panel of experts, bringing together different perspectives. We look forward to applying these learnings at EirGrid and will continue to provide early and transparent information about proposed projects and create opportunities for meaningful community input from the earliest stages."