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A new Shared Island Youth Forum is being launched by the Department of the Taoiseach as part of the Shared Island initiative. This will bring together up to 80 young people aged 18 to 25 from North and South and across all communities, meeting in a deliberative process over the next year to consider visions and values for a shared future on the island.
The Forum is organised in partnership with the National Youth Council of Ireland and with the Corrymeela Centre in Antrim. The first meeting will be on 8 September in Dublin Castle, and the Forum will meet 6-8 times over the next year. Forum meetings will focus on themes of common interest shaped by the members.
Nominations are currently being sought by the department from youth, civic and community organisations, in cooperation with the National Youth Council of Ireland and partners in Northern Ireland, to ensure a balance of participation from North and South, from across different communities, backgrounds and identities.
The Shared Island Youth Forum is being convened as part of the next phase of the Dialogue series, to deepen engagement with and by young people on how we share the island of Ireland, today and into the future, following a participant survey and consultations.
The Forum has the following objectives:
- convene all-island dialogue by young people, to discuss common concerns and values for a shared future underpinned by the Good Friday Agreement
- build on wider cross-border and cross-community interactions by young people in civil society, in particular youth organisations
- provide a leading space for all-island civic dialogue, acknowledging both North/South and East/West relationships
- publish an outcome document of the Forum’s deliberations to inform further development of the Irish Government’s Shared Island initiative
- outcome document to contribute to broader public and political discourse on a shared future for all communities on the island of Ireland
