As part of the Shared Island initiative, a new Youth Forum was announced by the Government in June 2023 and launched on 8 September 2023 in Dublin Castle, by the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Simon Harris TD.
The Forum convenes 80 young people aged 18 to 25 from North and South across all communities meeting in a deliberative process over the next year to set out their visions and values for a shared future on the island.
The Forum membership includes 40 young representatives from Northern Ireland and 40 from the South and reflects gender, ethnic, community, faith and other identity diversities.
The Forum has the following objectives:
The Forum is organised by the Department of the Taoiseach in partnership with the National Youth Council of Ireland and members are meeting regularly over a twelve-month period at locations across the island.
There have been seven meetings of the Forum so far, including thematic sessions on Sustainability, Opportunity, Wellbeing, and Culture and Identity. The Forum will meet a further number of times in 2024, including with a final thematic session on Equality.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar TD met with the Forum in Dublin on 7 December 2023 to discuss its work so far, and members’ ambitions for the outcome statement to be published in 2024. Members of the Youth Forum also spoke at a panel discussion during the Third Shared Island Forum in Dublin Castle on 8 February 2024, which can be viewed here .