Commissioner McGrath lends his backing to Cork solidarity scheme

EU Commissioner and former Cork TD Michael McGrath joined colleagues from the European Commission and Irish diplomats in Brussels this week to give his backing to a Cork solidarity initiative.

The Global Solidarity Run, the brainchild of the Irish not-for-profit organisation Sanctuary Runners, encourages people across the world to run, jog, walk or roll any distance, anywhere on Saturday, October 11, in a display of solidarity with all those who are forcibly displaced and those living in extreme poverty.

Global initiative

The initiative, supported by Irish Aid, the European Commission and the Ireland Funds is now in its second year and will have communities taking part in locations such as the Solomon Islands, in rural communities of Brazil, in Palestine’s West Bank and across Africa.

Earlier this week, Mr McGrath led a 5km walk and run through Parc du Cinquantenaire in central Brussels.

“By walking together with the Sanctuary Runners, we send a powerful message of solidarity — that Europe stands shoulder to shoulder with refugees, asylum seekers, and all those forced to flee war and hardship,” he said. 

“This global movement, born in Cork and now spreading across the world, unites people through friendship, respect, and shared humanity. In every step we take, we uphold the values at the heart of the European Union.”

Valued

Sanctuary Runners’ founder and head of international development Graham Clifford said: “This is an opportunity for people to step up and show, through their actions, that they want to see a world in which every single human life is valued equally.

“To push back against divisive rhetoric and misinformation which is designed to instil suspicion, mistrust and fear of the other. To drop the labelling and the politicising of the most vulnerable and to step up for all in the pursuit of a fairer, more just world for everybody. To run as one.”

Mr Clifford also met with representatives from Commissioner for Equality Hadja Lahbib’s Cabinet while in Brussels and stressed the need for a compassionate and humane approach to community integration across Europe.