Tax and welfare systems in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland should be reformed to encourage cross-Border working, a young people’s forum has heard.
The Shared Island Youth Forum has also called for public service jobs to be advertised across the island of Ireland.
An all-island travel card should be created to encourage travel by young people across all parts of the island that would be usable on all forms of public transport, a document published on Friday by the forum stated.
It also said that every effort should be made through an Erasmus-style programme to encourage students to study in all parts of the island, while unpaid internships should be abolished.
Tax and welfare systems should be reformed to encourage cross-Border working, young people’s forum hears
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Set up a year ago by the Government, the 80 members of the youth forum – all born since the Belfast Agreement – met nine times to draft a “vision and values” strategy to guide the Shared Ireland project in the years ahead.
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The Youth Forum said that all refugees and asylum seekers should be guaranteed fair and equal treatment and supported and integrated into communities across the island and that full rights for LGBTQIA+ community, and minority groups should be extended.
By 2050, domestic and gender-based violence should be “eradicated” and the culture that enables it tackled by education and law, while the gender pay gap and glass ceiling for women should be “consigned to the past”.
Offering their environmental vision, the 80 youth leaders urged that the island reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050, with “a just and fair transition” that protects the most vulnerable in society.
Equally, the island by then should be “a global leader” in wind energy, with a nationalised energy system that powers all forms of national transport systems and sells abundant excess energy into the European grid.
Welcoming the vision document, Taoiseach Simon Harris said it is “a most significant contribution” to the work of creating “a shared future of reconciliation on this island that we all proudly call our home.
Saying that he had been too young to vote in the Belfast Agreement referendum, Mr Harris welcomed the voices of young people: “It is so important that we don’t just have people of a certain age telling us what our shared future must look like.”
The 1998 agreement was never designed to be “a static document”, but one that enables reconciliation, deepens peace and prosperity and ensures that everybody no matter their location, tradition or beliefs “can reach their full potential”.
Emma Murphy, who was nominated by the National Youth Council of Ireland, said the report was the culmination of a year’s work that “describes the type of future that we want to see on this island, and for every person that calls it home”.
Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Micheál Martin said the report “is a testament to the hopes, dedication and passion” of the Youth Forum and “of their generation, to drive forward with building a shared, reconciled future for all”.
Praising the forum’s members, Mary Cunningham, CEO, National Youth Council of Ireland said the fruits of their work “is a powerful reminder that when young people are engaged and given the space to lead, they become catalysts for real change”.
