Taoiseach outlines priorities under the Shared Island Initiative for 2024

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar T.D. will today, 8 February, give the keynote speech at the 3rd Shared Island Forum at the State Apartments in Dublin Castle. He will outline the Government’s priorities and ambitious objectives for the Shared Island Initiative in 2024.

Over 220 political, civic, community and economic stakeholders from across the island of Ireland are attending. The Forum features panel sessions on the Shared Island Youth Forum, projects supported by the Government’s Shared Island Fund, and on opportunities to cooperate on strategic challenges and opportunities for the island of Ireland in the years ahead.

In advance of the Shared Island Forum, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar TD said:

“I am very pleased that the Shared Island Forum is taking place this week, as we welcome the restoration of the Northern Ireland Assembly and the power-sharing Executive after two years’ absence. The Shared Island initiative is all about improving the lives of people on the island of Ireland through practical cooperation and investment.

“After 25 years, we have really only scratched the surface of what can be achieved through the North-South strand of the Good Friday Agreement. We must now seize this opportunity for a new phase. I want to see new links developed and old relationships flourishing on a cross-border basis.

“I know the Irish Government will not be found wanting. We will work with energy, ambition and imagination for an equal and prosperous future for all.”

The Government has so far committed almost €250 million through the Shared Island Fund, including to expand higher education provision in the North-West, to move forward with the Ulster Canal restoration in the central border region, and to introduce new programmes that bring people together across the island, through the Community Climate Action scheme, Creative Ireland programme and the Shared Island Civic Society Fund.

The Government is ready to undertake significantly more investment cooperation with the new Northern Ireland Executive and with the UK Government, for the benefit of the island of Ireland.

Notes for Editors:

Shared Island Initiative 2023 Report

Coinciding with the 3rd Shared Island Forum, a report ‘Shared Island Initiative 2023 - Action on a Shared Future’ is published today, (8 February), by the Department of the Taoiseach setting out how the Government has over the last year taken forward its commitment to engage with all communities and traditions to build a shared future on the island, underpinned by the Good Friday Agreement.

Shared Island initiative:

• As provided for in the Programme for Government, through the Shared Island initiative, the Government is engaging with all communities to build consensus around a shared future and delivering benefits for the whole island, underpinned by the Good Friday Agreement.

• This involves:

o unprecedented cooperative all-island investment, through the Shared Island Fund;

o engaging with all communities on how practically we share the island into the future, through the Shared Island dialogue series; and

o providing a stronger evidence base and analysis of the whole island, through a programme of published research.

• The Government has so far allocated €247m from the Shared Island Fund, moving ahead with cross-border investment commitments and objectives, including to the Ulster Canal restoration and capital investment at Ulster University’s Derry campus, and commencing new all-island projects and programmes that respond to common interests and concerns for all communities.

• The initiative is taken forward on a whole of Government basis, coordinated through the Shared Island unit in the Department of the Taoiseach.

• Further information on the Shared Island Initiative, including the newly published 2023 annual report, is available at www.gov.ie/sharedisland .