NOW the UK has left the EU, we in the south have entered a new chapter in our relationship with our closest neighbour and indeed with the north.
This is a relationship we cannot take for granted and the Irish government is committed to building upon the progress that has been achieved since the passing of the Good Friday Agreement. Our Programme for Government contains a lengthy section on a Shared Island and the taoiseach has outlined the steps the government will take to build on the agreement.
When we look towards shaping and determining our shared future on this island, we must avail of all the institutions available to us. With the northern executive back up and running we have seen meetings resume of the North-South Ministerial Council and regular ministerial engagement. This has become even more important over the past few, very difficult, weeks.
When we look at the challenges facing our world today we realise that these challenges do not exist within a vacuum, they impact all corners of this island. If we work together, both north-south and east-west, to discuss these challenges through the institutions we have at our disposal, we can emerge from these crises stronger and closer than ever.
Included in Budget 2021 is a Shared Island Fund worth €500 million. This fund will be used to support cross-border cooperation and infrastructure projects. This is hugely important as we now have a fund dedicated to fulfilling the obligations we reach in our discussions. The fund will also be supported by continued EU support.
A Shared Island Dialogue has also been established to foster constructive and inclusive discussions regarding our island. We want to ensure that no voice is left behind in the discussions on the future of our island. There is room for all viewpoints in these discussions: nationalist, unionist or neither. These discussions may not always be easy but they are vital to our future. Our island has made huge progress, there are over one million young people on this island today who have been born since 1998 and thus have only ever known peace. Their experience of our shared island is crucial and cannot be ignored.
Understandably, some will dismiss this new venture. They will want to skip it and push for a border poll. Others will dismiss it and perhaps do their best to ignore it or any closer engagement, they may even be suspicious.
However, the most important thing, at this moment, is to bring all the peoples of this island together to deal with the challenges we face today.
It will be by making use of the institutions already available to us that will allow us enter into a new chapter in our island and move towards achieving, and confirming, the goals of reconciliation, tolerance and mutual trust outlined in the Good Friday Agreement.
Regardless of political opinion, we simply must seize the opportunities that are before us right now to build a truly shared island.
:: Neale Richmond is a Fine Gael TD for Dublin Rathdown.
