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Taoiseach Micheál Martin has announced a new phase of the Shared Island Initiative at the 4th Shared Island Forum in Dublin Castle yesterday, 10 April. Speaking on the 27th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, Martin committed an additional €1 billion through 2035 to foster reconciliation across Ireland. The initiative includes significant funding for completing the Narrow Water Bridge construction at Warrenpoint, which will serve as a catalyst for sustainable tourism development in the Carlingford Lough region. The government has allocated €6 million to help local authorities and agencies maximise tourism opportunities that this connection will bring to communities in the Carlingford Lough area.
Martin also spoke of a new initiative 'A Shared Home Place' that the Government plan to advance later this year.
The Shared Island Initiative was launched in 2021 with the aim of putting a sustained, strategic focus on the future of the whole island and how we build a reconciled future together.
Speaking at yesterdays event the Taoiseach said "I said in announcing the Shared Island initiative, and I say again today, that achieving a more reconciled future, involves challenging questions for us all.
Like, how, in real terms, we can be more accommodating of our different identities and traditions across this island - Irish, British, both, or neither?
"And, how we build up consensus on the future in ways that engage and have the trust of all, recognising our different, equally legitimate aspirations for the constitutional future, without being dominated or defined solely by these, when so much else unites us. The fact remains that societal reconciliation is difficult and takes time."
He added "On sustainable tourism, now that the Narrow Water Bridge is under construction to be a lynchpin for active travel and recreation, we are providing €6m for agencies and local authorities to harness the opportunities this will bring for Carlingford Lough and the wider region."
As well as the Narrow Water Bridge other initiatives taken include an hourly-frequency rail service between Dublin and Belfast with a 50% increase in passenger numbers already seen.
The Taoiseach continued "To drive and systematise this work, the Government has introduced targets for all Departments to bring forward new investment cooperation proposals, working with counterparts in Belfast and London.
"On healthcare, we want to build up island-wide provision of specialist services, following on from the successful model on paediatric cardiac care in Dublin.
"The all-island economy is growing in size and sophistication. Enterprise agencies, North and South are now working together more substantively on supporting female entrepreneurship, clustering and green investment by firms.
We will build on this, including with more collaboration on start-ups, innovation, trade promotion and foreign direct investment."
A Shared Home Place
The Taoiseach also spoke of a new initiative called 'A Shared Home Place' coined from the late Seamus Mallon
"A deeper appreciation of how different traditions and heritages have shaped every townland on this island - with differences only in degree or emphasis - is a fundamental part of reconciliation, and I would like to say a few concluding words on this.
"We will only truly understand our different points of view on this island by valuing local communities in all their make up and ways of life - across sport, music, arts and culture, language, heritage and tradition.
"These are intrinsic ways in which we all find and express belonging and meaning; pride and hope - in our own lives, and in our community and place in the world.
"Irishness - in all its variety - does not stop at the border, neither does Britishness - in all of its. Nor is there a county on this island that has not been shaped by both, and more besides.
"I believe there is a growing confidence, capacity and desire to give more space to our different traditions and viewpoints; and to recognise our connected heritage."
The Taoiseach continued "And, of course, arts and culture are mirrors through which we - artist and audience both - represent, reflect, and even reimagine who we are.
"We need to multiply the moments of interaction and exchange in all cultural and community domains, across our communities and borders.
"That is why we are initiating the Shared Island and East-West cultural cooperation programmes this year.
"This will create a wealth of new opportunities for artistic and cultural collaboration and experiences; building on the broad and deep connections and exchanges we already enjoy.
"This is a crucial part of the journey of reconciliation we can and must make in the time ahead."
He continued "A Shared Home Place borrows from my late friend Seamus Mallon’s words and his endeavour to deepen a shared connection to place and to community.
"This participative, community initiative will be open to people across every town on this island; to build new connections and consensus on our place-based heritage.
"It will engage also with Irish communities in Britain and further afield, and with the contributions of Irish, Anglo-Irish and Ulster-Scots traditions across the island of Ireland - recognising how these are an integral part of the heritage of every county today and crucial to how we approach and build our future.
"And, the Home Place series will recognise and include the greater ethnic and cultural diversity of the island now, which is a source of richness and strength in society."
The Irish Government plan to consult widely in the months ahead and commence the Home Place engagement later this year, as part of the next phase of their expanded Shared Island Initiative.
