The Shared Island Youth Forum was convened in September 2023, bringing together over 80 young people from Ireland and Northern Ireland, all born since the Good Friday Agreement, to hear their perspectives on how best we can share the island in a future that their generation will ultimately lead.
Aged between 18 and 25, members of the Forum were nominated by community and civic organisations from North and South, reflecting the diversity of life on the island today. The Youth Forum was organised by the Shared Island Unit in the Department of the Taoiseach, in partnership with the National Youth Council of Ireland and Youth Action Northern Ireland.
The Forum met several times over the course of a year to deliberate on five key themes: Sustainability, Opportunity, Wellbeing, Culture and Identity, and Equality.
The Youth Forum heard from a wide range of contributors with expertise in each of these areas. Members spoke with the experts to explore issues of concern for people across the island, and to draw on their experience of building consensus and of effecting positive change. Forum members also learned and gained new insights from each other; developing friendships, sharing their own different lived experiences, and swapping views on challenges and opportunities for young people North and South today.
Over the course of their meetings, the Forum members worked together to develop a range of actions to improve life and outcomes across the island under each of the five themes. In May 2024, the Forum considered in full their work and discussions, deliberating on and agreeing a statement of their vision and values for a shared future.
This report sets out the Outcome Statement of the Shared Island Youth Forum. It includes underlying values that members agree should guide and inform how decisions are made, how conflict is resolved and how relationships are taken to a higher level across communities and borders on the island of Ireland in the years ahead. The statement also illustrates what members want that future to look like, through their visions for Sustainability, Opportunity, Wellbeing, Culture and Identity, and Equality for all.
This Outcome Statement will inform development of the Government’s Shared Island initiative and contribute to broader discussions on creating a shared future for all communities, underpinned by the Good Friday Agreement.
The Shared Island Youth Forum’s work exemplifies the power and potential of building connections, trust, friendship and common cause across all communities and political traditions on the island of Ireland.