If you are reading this article, you might be about to enter college for the first time or need a refresher about time management in college. Either way, welcome! Managing your time in college can be difficult. Even though you have more flexibility than in school it can be hard to manage your time when things get busy with essays, projects or even with your social life. These are a few tips from my experience in college and I hope some of these tips can help you in your college life.

1. Plan your time and update your calendar

While you will get a schedule for your lectures and seminars, calendars or diaries can be really useful to start using as you settle into college life and get used to the flexibility. For college time, I use a synced calendar such as OneCalendar to sync both college and personal college schedules, to ensure little clashes and factoring in-transit time, something I forgot to do up to recently!

Even if you plan your time well, there might be times where you miss a lecture or two. Ensuring you catch up on notes if you happen to miss a lecture is key. If you can organise shared notes between your classmates, it reduces the need to ask others for notes, as you can only have to read up on shared notes instead. Shared notes can be really useful at exam time as well in case you missed any important points in your own notes.

2. Pick a few societies to focus on

A mistake I made was signing up to ten societies when it came to Freshers’ week and then only committing to half of them. I would recommend only committing to five at most. I’d also recommend committing to one main one that you’re really interested in. For myself, I chose the Media Production Society in semester one and Karting in semester two. It allowed me to still have free time and balance college work. If you have a part-time job, it would be good to see what times the societies run their events. If you have to work in the evenings, it would be good to have a society that has events in the mornings or afternoons.

3. Take some time out for yourself

Even with the hustle and bustle of college life, having some self-care and mindfulness planned for yourself can reduce the possible stress of college life.,. Taking time out of your daily routine to focus on yourself can have a positive effect on your mental health. Meditation, reading a book or even sitting and watching the world go by can be nice ways to relax Even trying to relax while on your commute can be helpful. It might seem strange but I felt using the time on the bus to check in with myself meant I came off the bus feeling better than when I got on it.

4. Take a step back if you’re stuck on a college assignment 

Many people have faced a brick wall when trying to finish an essay or project. It may be frustrating, and that’s perfectly OK. Rather than staying stuck on a certain essay or section of an essay, I find it helpful to take a (literal or metaphorical) step back from what I’m doing. Taking some time to brainstorm why you are stuck and allow new ideas to flow, or if that does not work, leave it for a few minutes or even for a day or two and focus on something else. The time away from the essay or project might mean you’ve fresh new ideas when you come back to it.

5. Ask for help from classmates or the college

Whether it be college work, or even just general time management, college life can be hectic for all, especially when communication from lecturers and the college itself can be lacking for some students. Asking for help and getting advice from classmates , going to the Student Union or going directly to a lecturer or module coordinator can help clear any worries you may have.

With these tips, I hope I have passed on a few nuggets of advice that can help college life for you as well as they did for me. Whether you have a part time job, lots of volunteering opportunities, childcare or long commutes, everyone has their own way of managing time in college and there is no golden way but hopefully some of these tips will help you.

It has been announced that Instagram will be introducing their ‘hidden’ likes feature to Ireland in the coming weeks as part of an ongoing test. The test will prevent users from seeing the total number of likes an image or video has in the feed. The only person who will be able to see the total number of likes their post has is the user themselves.

This test was first rolled out in Canada in May, and Ireland is now one of six other countries joining the test, including Brazil, Japan, Italy, New Zealand, and Australia.

From Outdoors to Labour Market (FOLM), a personal development programme based in the Midwest, are recruiting young people age 18-29 who are not in full time employment, education or training for their outdoor activity programmes in September and October 2019.

What is From Outdoors to Labour Market (FOLM)?

FOLM provides young people who have been outside of employment, training or education for six months or more with the opportunity to experience the outdoors and develop skills to help them access jobs and training opportunities.

The programme helps young people to develop skills by providing outdoor wilderness experiences and learning with trainers over the course of eight days. After the wilderness week, participants receive 6 months of mentorship from a coach.

How do you qualify for FOLM?

To qualify for FOLM, you must be:

FOLM are looking for young people who want to make positive changes in their lives.

What is involved in the programme?

There are many elements to the programme, including outdoor experiences and one-to-one support.

One-to-one support

You will be paired with an outreach worker who is there to offer you support and advice. They will listen to you and respect you, providing you with encouragement to get you to wherever you want to go in life.

An opportunity to challenge yourself

FOLM is an opportunity to challenge yourself physically, mentally, and emotionally. Through the eight days of wilderness activities, you will discover new skills and strengths in yourself.

Build an action plan

This programme gives you the chance to create an action plan for taking the next step into education, training or employment, and will provide you with ongoing support to help you achieve your goals.

Support for accessing education, training or employment

Your outreach worker can help you to access opportunities, whether that’s to go into education or training, volunteer, or to enter employment. They can help you to build your confidence and your CV.

Personal Development Award

Participants have the opportunity to receive the Personal Development Award after taking part in the programme.

What are the benefits of taking part in FOLM?

By taking part in FOLM, you have the opportunity to:

How to apply

For more information and to find out how to apply, contact [email protected], call Marie on 0504 28476 or visit folmweb.com

Climate change is one of the biggest threats facing humanity today. Across the world, rising temperatures and carbon emissions are changing the way people live, where they can live, and their health and wellbeing. Young people are especially vulnerable to the impacts of the climate crisis, as it puts their future at risk.

Earlier this year, The Guardian made a decision to change the language they use when talking about the environment, choosing to use words that more accurately describe the crisis that is unfolding. SpunOut.ie has decided to follow in their footsteps and update our own style guidelines to change the way we talk about the climate crisis.

Why are we doing this?

What is happening to our climate is an emergency – but that’s not always how we talk about it. Scientists working in the area of climate research have said that the terms currently used to describe climate change (including ‘climate change’ and ‘global warming’) are not an accurate reflection of what it happening to the Earth’s climate. By changing the language we are using, it helps to show the urgency of our current situation, and can change the way we talk about and think about the climate.

Young people and the fight against climate change

SpunOut.ie is an organisation by young people, for young people. We believe that the solutions to the climate crisis lie in the passion and energy of young people around the world who are calling on their leaders to tackle climate breakdown.

As a youth organisation, we believe it is important that the words we use to talk about the environmental crisis we are facing reflect how young people feel about this issue.

 

Greta Thunberg. Image: Anders Hellberg

 

One of the strongest advocates for changing the language we use around the climate is Greta Thunberg, a leading youth climate activist who started the Fridays for Future school strike movement.

How will we talk about climate change?

While we won’t stop using the words ‘climate change’ and ‘global warming’ completely, we have decided to introduce these terms into our content on the environment:

Phrases like ‘climate crisis’ and ‘climate emergency’ give a sense of urgency to the issue, and ‘global heating’ is considered a more accurate description of the rising temperatures we are currently experiencing, according to a leading UK climate professor.

What difference will it make?

In order to solve the climate emergency, we need action from governments, world organisations, and corporations. Local, national, and global policy needs to shift to address climate breakdown. This is an issue that requires action, not just conversation.

However, changing the language we use to discuss the climate encourages people to stop viewing climate change as a future issue, and realise that this is something that is happening right now, and needs to be addressed right now. ‘Climate change’ implies a slow, gradual change over time, that is somewhat natural. Although some changes in our climate can, in some cases, have natural causes, the scale and speed of the change we are experiencing now is not slow or natural.

Our content on the climate:

We have recently created a series of new articles on the climate crisis, and we hope to continue to create more factsheets on this topic:

Our volunteers are talking about the climate crisis

At SpunOut.ie, we want young people in Ireland to feel like their voices are heard. We want to give a platform to young people to share their views on the climate emergency and take part in projects to discuss and address our changing climate.

This includes articles, podcasts, and other content on the Sustainable Development Goals, climate change, and the environment. Find some of those opinion pieces here:

Want to get involved?

If you are a young person in Ireland age 16-25 who is passionate about the climate emergency, we want to hear from you. Find out how you can get involved with spunout to create articles, podcasts or videos about the climate crisis, climate action, and how it feels to be a young person at a time when we are experiencing so much environmental change.

The Leaving Certificate is often compared to a marathon and while the State Examination Commission (SEC) is not asking us to actually run, for students with long term health conditions they might as well be.

I have just finished sitting the leaving and to call it draining would be an understatement. I’m sure everyone was in the same boat for the last two weeks but I found the structure of the exams more difficult than most. I suffer from a chronic illness and one of the main symptoms is blackouts. I spent the weeks leading up to the exams petrified that I would become unwell during an important exam and be unable to continue. I put in hours of hard work throughout the two years and yet there was always the possibility that I would have nothing to show for it.

The Leaving Cert is stressful enough without this added pressure. I think most will agree that trying to squeeze fourteen years of formal education into a measly fourteen days is unreasonable. There seems to be a complete lack of understanding on the SEC’s part that students get sick, be this an ongoing condition or a sudden illness. The support provided for students with an illness during exam time do not go far enough.

Due to my condition I received certain support throughout the exams, for which I am grateful, but this does not take away from the fact that the system is broken. The best that can be offered to students in a similar position is a separate centre and possibly rest breaks. We still must sit the exam no matter how sick we are on that day, or sit out the exam and repeat it next year.

This year’s exams have seen important changes in how students who have had a recent bereavement sit the exams, yet the same compassion has not been extended to those who suffer from illness during the exams.

While continuous assessment would be many students preferred option, I realise that this would probably face the same logistical issues as the new Junior Cert. Instead I feel that a system of predicted grades would greatly benefit students in this position. Teachers would be asked to submit the grade or range of grades they expect a student to achieve based on house exams, homework and performance their in class. In the event of a student falling ill during the exams or underperforming due to an ongoing condition then the predicted grade would be brought in line with the national average and awarded instead. Another option would be extending the ability to sit exams at a later date to students with ill health as has already been granted for those who experience bereavement during the exams. Neither of these options are without flaw but in my opinion there needs to be some type of contingency plan put in place to alleviate the pressure on students with health issues.

Unfortunately this topic has been argued over and debated for years and yet we see no change. If meaningful change is to be finally achieved it must be done by consulting students, parents and teachers. It was Yeats who said that “education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.” It is time for us to take up our torches and make our voices heard. We must be the change we want to see so that no other student suffers more than they should.

In this short video “The Disabled Gamer” talks about living with quadriplegic cerebral palsy and how there are rarely ever barriers in life, just obstacles to overcome.

Growing up, I never cared much about the environment. I wasn’t particularly wasteful but I wasn’t environmentally conscious either. Taking care of your surroundings was just something you did to make the place look nice. People who cared a lot about trees and animals were just seen as “tree-hugging hippies.” I remember having a classmate who I used to think was weird because he would go on and on about nature. I sometimes wonder what he would think of me now.

Although I learnt about global warming and the ozone layer in my science class at secondary school, it wasn’t really something I or indeed most of my class thought about in a more practical sense. For me, it was an exam question to be crammed for, and was forgotten soon afterwards. But my environmental consciousness started to wake some years later when I started to develop an interest in volunteering. I was fortunate enough to volunteer for what was then the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Awareness Creation Programme in 2014. One of the goals was to ensure environmental sustainability, and I was slowly being shown the importance of caring for the environment, but thinking back, I think the coordinator didn’t focus on it much because it wasn’t a “food on the table” goal and environmental advocacy was not as strong as it is today.

Regardless, I started to develop an interest, and I volunteered for the sustainable development team at the University of Kent, whose role was to examine the various buildings to make sure that they were environmentally friendly. I think it was the first time I had in practice taken the time to ensure that places I didn’t personally care about were environmentally friendly.

However, my real awakening was when I was fortunate enough to land an internship at a production company where I was drafted to work on a documentary they were doing for the BBC on the impact of climate change on childbirth in Kiribati. Kiribati is a small island nation at the opposite end of the world which was literally vanishing, with a substantial number of people leaving the country for New Zealand and other countries for climate reasons.

During this time, I really dug in, and I found out that the country was on the verge of disappearing due to rising sea levels. Watching videos and listening to the pleas of its citizens, including from its leader, who has made several requests to western nations to cut down on their emissions and to send aid, really sent shivers down my spine. If only we were all made more aware of what was going on in nations like Kiribati, maybe people would start to care more about the environment, I thought.

It is a cliché but experience really is the best teacher. Experiencing this shook away the last of my lukewarm attitude to environmental concerns. I realised that caring for the environment isn’t just a good or nice thing to do, it really could be a “do or die” affair.

This isn’t me being overdramatic. It’s now widely recognised that people all over the world are being seriously negatively affected by our inaction.

The signing of the Paris Climate Change Agreement in 2015 was for me a watershed moment. I was genuinely optimistic about the future and thought change was coming. Recent events, particularly across the pond, have sometimes given me reason to despair, but the green wave going across Europe has once again renewed my faith in humanity. I remain an optimist, and continue to believe that, with continuous cooperation, there is still enough time to avoid a doomsday scenario where climate change renders the planet uninhabitable. But we need to act now!

I urge you, reading this, despite recent victories and pains, not to wait on the government to lead – they never have. It is important now, more than ever, for young people to engage in a grassroots movement that continues to lead the way on the climate emergency – because, after all, it’s our future that’s at stake.

Name: Sárán Fogarty

Age: 19

Preferred pronouns: He/him

Party: Fianna Fáil

Local electoral area: Bray West

Elected in 2019 local elections?: No 

What was the election experience like for you?

It was an overwhelming positive one, though there were a lot of ups and downs. Despite not getting elected I was incredibly happy with my campaign and the issues I raised. Learning how to campaign as a candidate can only really be done by experience and I was overwhelmed by how much I learned about myself and my community during it.

What went well for you during the elections?

I think that I engaged well with young people during the election and managed to raise issues that affected them in their everyday lives. I also think I ran an authentic campaign based on the issues I care about and what I think is challenging my district.

Is there anything you think you’ll do differently next time?

I would probably lend more of a focus to local issues rather than national, as sometimes when running a local campaign it can be easy to focus too much on national stuff. I’d also prefer to have begun my campaign earlier as I only had two and a half months as a candidate.

Do you think it’s important for more young people to get involved in politics? If so, what advice would you have for them?

Absolutely!! Young people are largely underrepresented in our democracy and the issues we face need young voices to address them, and to help shape the discourse surrounding those issues.

What are you planning on doing now?

At the moment I’m working and starting university in September. I’m also happy to have joined the SpunOut.ie Dublin Regional Action Panel to continue as an activist on the issues I care about.

Anything else you’d like to share about the experience or your plans going forward?

Deciding to run for election is a daunting experience and I commend anyone who puts themselves before the people. As a candidate it’s important to look after your own mental health and make sure you don’t burn out. Having a supportive team around you makes all the difference, and having love and support from your friends and family will be such an uplifting comfort for anyone who runs.

The stigma surrounding self harm can be incredibly toxic for anyone who is struggling or who wants to seek help. Stigma comes from a lack of understanding and misinformation, so it’s important that we all try to understand more about self harm and how we can support someone who is self harming. By reducing the stigma, we may encourage people who are self harm to seek the support they need. Self harm is a complicated issue and can be difficult to understand but with the right education, I believe we can reduce the stigma related to self harm.

What is self harm?

Self harm is when a person deliberately hurts or injures themselves. It is a serious issue in Ireland today, affecting people of all ages, genders and races.

Why do people self harm?

Everyone is different and there are many reasons why a person might engage in self harm. Some people self harm to try and cope with overwhelming emotions and feelings. Others self harm to show their emotional pain as physical pain, or use self harm as an escape from past trauma. Self harm can also be used to express suicidal feelings or as a way to gain control over your feelings. Also, some people self harm to punish themselves or to stop themselves feeling numb or disconnected. But, there is often no simple reason why a person might self harm.

What to do if you’re self harming

Though it is said a lot; you are not alone. If you can, you could try and reach out to someone you trust – a friend, parent or teacher. Or, if this is not an option to you, you could contact a helpline below such as Pieta House, Childline or Samaritans who offer a non-judgmental listening service. It can also be helpful to try and recognise the triggers that can lead you to self harm and becoming aware of the feelings or urges you may get to self harm. If you can identify these, you can try and find distractions that work for you. Learn more about different distraction techniques that might help you.

How to help someone self harming

If you find out that someone close to you is self harming, the most important thing to remember is to stay calm. You may be shocked and upset that someone you know or love has been feeling like this but getting upset or angry will only make things worse and possibly make the person feel ashamed. You should try and approach the subject delicately and don’t push the person if they are not ready to talk yet. Try and let them know that you are there for them if they want to talk or show them some of the resources below.

If the person is ready to open up, try and show them compassion and listen to what they have to say without judgment. Avoid trying to guilt the person into stopping by saying things like, “by doing this, you’re hurting me” or “try and stop for me” as saying things like this are unhelpful.

I discovered that a person close to me was self harming and it was definitely a shock but by keeping calm and listening to them, we made a lot of progress and they agreed to contact Pieta House and seek help. We even brainstormed some distraction techniques such as art journaling and we tried out simple games to act as a distraction from urges to self harm. The game we found that was most useful was a game called, “I went to the moon and I brought…” In this game, each person lists a thing they would bring with them to the moon and the other person has to remember what the other person said and add to the list and it continues like this. It might sound a little silly but once we were open minded it actually worked. Not everyone might find this distraction technique helpful but the key is trying to find something that works for you.

We also sat down and made up what I like to call a “Rescue Box” of things that made the person feel happy such as photos of loved ones, their favourite movie, a childhood teddy bear and a warm, snuggly blanket. The purpose of the “Rescue Box” was to bring together some things that made the person feel safe and could help calm them down if they got agitated or upset. The beauty of it is that you can add anything you like to the box, there’s no limits. Though it might not work for everyone, it might be a nice thing to do with someone who has reached out to you (as long as they’re willing) as it can show them that you care and want to help. Sometimes all it can take for a person to seek help with self harm is someone to listen and support them as they navigate these difficult emotions. Above all, be a kind, listening ear to anyone who reaches out to you.

Through educating ourselves about self harm, we can significantly reduce stigma surrounding it. It is important to remember that most people who self harm use it as a way of coping and it is not something that is usually easy to stop at first. With the right help, many people can find healthier ways of coping. Self harm can be seen as an addiction and those suffering from it may relapse. If this happens, it is important to be gentle with the person and let them know that they haven’t disappointed anyone or let anyone down. Tomorrow is another day and they can start their recovery again.

If you or anyone you know has been engaging in self harm, please contact the organisations below or visit your local GP.

Samaritans: 116 123

Pieta House: 1800 247 247

Childline: 1800 666 666

BodyWhys: 01 283 4963

Drugs and Alcohol Helpline: 1800 459 459

We all have a security blanket; something to keep us safe when everything goes wrong. For some people their blanket is music, while others have the gym. There’s writing and gaming, making art and playing sports. But what happens when things get too much and a person turns to something else?

Lots of people in Ireland, and throughout the world, use self harm as a way to cope with very difficult situations in their lives. It affects children, adults and teenagers of all genders.

What is self harm?

Self harm is something that is being spoken about a lot more in recent years, but what exactly is it and why does it happen?

Self harm is any action that a person does to deliberately hurt themselves, in order to relieve emotional or mental pain. For me, I began self harming when my eating disorder was getting out of control. At the time, I felt like I was being tortured by my mind, and the only way to stop it was by hurting myself.

There isn’t just one type of self harm; it can present itself in many different ways. Most people would be able to recognise some of the ways a person was self harming, but unfortunately there are many other forms that go unnoticed.

Someone I know engages in self harm, what do I do?

Self harm exists because the person is going through a really difficult situation in life and they need a way to cope with it. There isn’t just one reason for someone to begin self harming, just like there isn’t only one way that a person may self harm. We all experience life differently so it’s important to remember each person’s pain is valid, and that it should be acknowledged.

If you know that someone close to you is self harming, there are a number of ways that you can help. These are a few things that I found beneficial when I was struggling;

Things I found helpful:

Be there for them

Let the person know that you’ve noticed they’re having a tough time, and that you’re there for them. For me, knowing that someone recognised that I was not myself made me realise that I wasn’t completely alone in the world. Self harm is isolating, so something as simple as knowing that you have people looking out for you can make all the difference.

Be gentle

It can be hard for someone who engages in self harm to open up about what’s going on, so please don’t be discouraged if they don’t want to talk about it, and don’t be pushy about them having to talk. The first time someone said that they knew what was going on, I wanted to retreat into a corner and pretend that none of it was happening. I was embarrassed and ashamed, and didn’t want anyone knowing my business. Now, I am glad that I was encouraged to talk about it, but at the time it was a difficult and scary thing.

Create positive experiences

If you can, offer to spend time with the person doing something that they enjoy, or used to enjoy before the self harm started. When I was self harming, it was during a time in my life that was shadowed by an eating disorder and depression, so I found it hard to enjoy things, but that didn’t mean that I shouldn’t try to do them anyway. Going to the cinema still acted as a distraction from the thoughts, creating art pieces did the same. Distraction from those thoughts was vital, whether I fully enjoyed the experience or not.

A text can make a difference

If you know that the self harm happens at a particular time in the day, spend time with them then if you can. If not, something as simple as a phone call or message can help. I found night time particularly hard, and that was when I self harmed the most. I used an online support network of friends, both on Facebook and Twitter, to talk me through those tough times. They may not have been there with me in person, but their help and support had a positive effect on me.

Find soothing things for the difficult times

Help the person make a self-soothe box; fill it with things like stress balls, a journal, incense, hot chocolate, their favourite music or video games, distraction colouring books, anything you can think of that may comfort them when they are in emotional pain. I made a self-soothe box during one of my stays in hospital, and was also gifted items for it by friends. I kept that box by my bed so that when I needed it, it was nearby. I wrote a lot, drew a lot, and drank even more hot chocolate than should be physically possible – but it all helped, because doing those things soothed me when I was struggling.

Acknowledge progress

If the person has self harmed again, please don’t give out! They are struggling at the moment and having someone give out can add to that; instead congratulate them for each and every day that they didn’t self harm. When I was already feeling bad about myself, having someone give out about my self harm just made it worse. Positive reinforcement for the things I was doing right really did help.

Take the first step towards recovery together

If they want to go to see a doctor or therapist and are afraid to go, offer to go to the appointment with them for moral support. I was accompanied to my very first doctor’s appointment by my boyfriend at the time, and to be honest, I wouldn’t have gone if he didn’t go with me. I was terrified of doctors and psychologists, and hated the idea that I needed to get help, but now I am thankful that he helped me take that first step towards recovery.

Changing the security blanket

Self harm is like a security blanket for people like me, and taking away that security blanket can be terrifying. Rather than take it away and leave us exposed, add new security blankets through talking, spending time doing things we love, and giving us a support network that we can rely on. Eventually we won’t need the self harm security blanket anymore, because everything else knitted together will be able to help us cope.

Self harm doesn’t have to last forever. If someone you know is struggling, reach out to them. One simple action may mean more to a person than you’d ever know.

This week marks the launch of our self harm campaign. Here at SpunOut.ie, we want to start conversations, and make it more normalised to talk about self harm and mental health. The reasons why a person may self harm are complex, but for some it can be a way of coping when things are very difficult and overwhelming. 

The more we encourage one another to listen and learn from each other’s experiences of self harm, the more we can create an environment where support for self harm is easily accessed, without shame or stigma. Our campaign offers support and advice to both those who may be self harming, and those who are supporting someone who self harms with non judgemental advice, opinion pieces and signposts to supports and services. Self harm is not a choice, and self harm is not something that needs to be hidden.

Self harm content on SpunOut.ie

Understanding self harm

Supporting someone who self harms

Support for self harm

Personal experiences of self harm

20 SpunOut.ie Action Panel members were invited to attend the Global Ireland Summit in Dublin Castle on Monday the 8th of July. The event focused on the progress of the Global Ireland 2025 strategy and key priorities. While the vast majority of attendees were diplomats and staff members of the Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade, youth members from Foróige, the National Youth Council of Ireland, the Washington Ireland Programme and the newly chosen Irish UN Youth Delegate were also in attendance.

The summit itself was split into four different panel discussions, which lasted approximately 45 minutes each. The first panel discussion was with both An Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, and Tánaiste Simon Coveney. Both praised the achievements of the Global Ireland 2025 strategy, noting how it was ahead of schedule in opening embassies and consulates in Santiago, Wellington, Addis Ababa and Amman. However, as expected, Brexit was a major talking point as the government later the same day published their no-deal strategy in case that happens on the 31st of October, although the Taoiseach did note that the resources were already ready in this case.

The main announcement was a doubling of Ireland’s impact in the Asia Pacific region, including the opening of an “Ireland House” in Tokyo which would bring together all state agencies into one building within the embassy. The specific strategy to achieve this is expected to launch during the Rugby World Cup in Japan in September. This is to maximise media attention for regional businesses and countries. It has likely been accelerated after the recent implementation of the EU-Japan trade deal, which would allow Bord Bia access to the beef and dairy markets and for Tourism Ireland to focus on Ireland as a tourist destination.

Following on, three separate panel discussions focused on the vast influence of Irish diplomacy worldwide, with trade, culture, international development and connecting Irish people abroad as the main issues. In regard to international development, the commitment to delivering 0.7% of Gross National Income to Official Development Aid by 2030 was reaffirmed following the publication of the white paper “A Better World” with a particular focus on achieving gender equality. It was noted that countries tend to be less economically well off when there is a high gender divide. An Taoiseach mentioned how “some of our allies & neighbours may be turning inwards, we are sending out a clear message that Ireland believes in multilateralism & international cooperation on tackling some of the biggest challenges facing the globe.”

This theme carried on into building new relationships with countries and not taking for granted relationships with traditional allies, particularly as Ireland launches its campaign into achieving a United Nations Security Council seat for 2021-22 as a peacemaker and standing up for small countries. In one of the panels relating to Ireland’s role with other countries, the Fijian Minister for Foreign Affairs and Defence joined the panel and talked about how we’re linked by our “big oceans” rather than by being “small islands.” However, there was little mention in the summit of the impact the policy would have on young people. The only concrete proposal would be the creation of a “Youth Forum” to engage with young Irish people abroad, focusing on leadership and linking groups and youth networks in Ireland. The growth of Erasmus+ was also welcomed, as well as ensuring young Irish abroad would engage in Irish culture through GAA or music for example.

For Irish young people, there were a few interesting points in the policy. Mandarin Chinese will be introduced as a full Leaving Certificate subject and Polish, Lithuanian and Portuguese will be introduced by 2020. There is a plan to include the number of students learning two languages for state examinations by 25% by 2026.

While overall the day was interesting and it was useful to see the progress of the Global Ireland 2025 policy, not much new information came out of the panel discussions and the audience was only provided with a brief context for the issues that were discussed. Even the Tánaiste described the day as a “three and a half hour Honours Maths Paper” which, in addition to being squashed in an overly uncomfortable, non-air-conditioned room with no engagement from the audience and a lack of relevance for youth being in the room, it did not serve much purpose except as a get together of politically interested Action Panel members.

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