"Life is better looking at the stars rather than lying in the gutter"

"For anyone looking at me I was definitely in the gutter, but I never saw it like that. I was looking up at the stars".

Referencing a quote from Oscar Wilde, Seamus Boland, the newly elected president of the European Economic and Social Committee (ESSC), last week reflected on his journey from Ballycumber to Brussels where he was appointed to the prestigious role in the EU Parliament.

The Offaly native will serve as the lead voice for organised civil society in Europe, representing employers, workers and civic society organisations for a two and a half year period, until March 2028.

Fresh from his appointment as EESC president, Boland took time from his schedule for a one-to-one interview with this journalist in Brussels, where he reflected on an upbringing which was dominated by poverty, such a realisation "influencing his thinking on equality, civil society involvement and rights".

A child of the 1960s, Boland grew up in a "very rural background" and in a "very poor nation", knowing that "we didn't have a lot of things".

"Looking back, at this time of the year, October, as a teenager I would have been taking potatoes out from the ground with horses all by myself. It was a completely different time and a different place, so to even imagine getting out of that field, never mind getting anywhere in Ireland or even Europe, it's extraordinary really.

"I genuinely don't know how I got to this day or how it happened, but I have to make the most of the opportunity now before me," Boland said.

Referencing the quote from Wilde, Boland said that his idea was that "life would get better looking at the stars rather than lying in the gutter".

Boland has taken strides to realise his role as EESC President. His appointment as CEO of Moate-based Irish Rural Link in 2001 was another step in a life of dedication to the civil society cause. The farmer lauded the support he has received from his wife Geraldine and three children Naomi, Jamie and Lauren, "without whom I would not be in this position today".

"You simply cannot do this work without the support of your family members. You need your family to understand what it is you do and the work that is involved," Boland added.

When he was initially proposed for an EESC role in 2011, Boland thought that his family would not be too keen on the idea but "in fact, the opposite was the case".

"They all said to me, 'why not, this is what you do, go and give it a try, if it doesn't work out, it doesn't, and so be it'. So yes, Geraldine and the children have been tremendously supportive through my time coming to and from Brussels," Boland said.

Boland has been immersed in EESC matters for 14 years, and said he has a "very good" knowledge of how the EU works.

Similar to his family support, he has worked in unison with his fellow committee members to build up a reservoir of knowledge which he believes will stand to him during his term as President.

"I have had an incredible education on the realities of the EU machine, working alongside the so-called 'corridors of power', the parliament, commission and all of the other institutions. So I have had a great grounding in that respect," Boland said.

Boland admits that the EU can be a "slow-moving" project and "you need to be patient with that reality".

"The EU can be full of contradictions. Each nation wants its own sovereignty, but on the other hand each nation wants quicker action on the issues impacting them. However, unless the 27 Member States agree on the proposed actions they won't happen. Understandably, there are frustrations, so hopefully my EU knowledge will now stand to me during my term as President," Boland stated.

With homelessness an escalating issue impacting society in Ireland, Boland spoke of his personal desire to address this topic during his two and a half year term as EESC President.

"This is a European emergency, which is not just impacting our own country at a local and national level but it has now spread across the continent of Europe. To address this emergency we now must take special actions which are not 'of the norm'," Boland said.

Boland said that although "we have the money in Ireland, we don't have the skills and we don't have the right planning or the relevant supports available to bring housing projects to fruition. And now, across Europe, this too is becoming a massive problem, particularly since Covid-19."

He referenced the thoughts of current European Council President Antonio Costa, stating that "dramatic changes" had to be made if "we are to get ahead of the problem".

"Costa said that the provision of State aid may be necessary to address this particular situation. We may not have thought about this up to now, but maybe it is time to do so, we might have to," Boland said.

Boland acknowledged that "different forms of rental (housing)" would be a means of getting "people off the streets" in Ireland and across Europe.

"Ultimately, we need to find the best mechanisms to allow for the construction of houses. It may end up with the different regional authorities building houses, certainly the affordable and social properties.

"Unfortunately, they will never be built by the industry alone. We haven't the time anyway, and the sooner we understand this the better," Boland concluded.