The Government’s Shared Island Initiative is run through a unit in the Department of An Taoiseach. The stated aim is “to harness the full potential of the Good Friday Agreement to enhance cooperation, connection and mutual understanding on the island and engage with all communities and traditions to build consensus around a shared future.” In Budget 2021, the Government announced the Shared Island Fund, which will run to 2025, consisting of €500m in capital funding and focusing on investment in collaborative North-South projects.
In April 2022, the National Economic and Social Council (NESC) published the “Shared Island: Shared Opportunity NESC Comprehensive Report” which encapsulates the research work they have undertaken on this initiative. The report is in four parts:
- Part I explains the ambition for and approach to this work; it analyses existing knowledge, prevailing policy approaches and the understandings of key stakeholders, both North and South.
- Part II provides an overview of the shared context in a diverse range of areas including economic; social; environmental; well-being and the measurement of progress.
- Part III explores cooperation in the Northwest, between counties Donegal and Derry. Four on-line focus groups were organised exploring good jobs; green transformation; poverty and mental health; and mechanisms for cooperation.
- Part IV draws out the conclusions and recommendations.
Amongst recommendation NESC made in the report were:
Economically
- increased investment in infrastructure is needed to strengthen economic development, on an all-island basis and in the border areas;
- a strategic working group should be established to explore renewable energy opportunities, both economic and environmental, associated with solar, anaerobic digestion, off-shore wind, wave and tidal energy;
- the scope to mandate more strategic and collaborative working between the enterprise agencies should be considered, in order to better take up opportunities to support enterprise growth and to attract investment on a cross-border basis;
- the two Administrations and the tourism agencies should cooperate to grow local, sustainable tourism on a cross-border basis;
- relevant Departments or Agencies North and South could be jointly mandated to develop a shared-island ‘good-jobs’ agenda, building on their work on this issue to date.
Social Policy
- the scope for periodic joint Ministerial or joint Departmental engagement with stakeholders in relevant sectors to hear their views and expectations of what North / South cooperation needs to deliver should be explored, to inform the development and updating of work programmes;
- the PEACE PLUS programme is an important opportunity to affirm the benefits of cross-border cooperation and interaction on a range of common social policy concerns, providing a basis for mainstreaming and further development over time through North-South cooperation;
- North-South and cross-border collaborative events should be built into annual Departmental and Agency work programmes;
- both Administrations, building on the platform already put in place, could explore the potential for greater recognition, support and development of the role of social enterprise on a cross-border and all-island basis.
Climate and biodiversity
- both Administrations take greater cognisance of the connected nature of the climate crisis and biodiversity emergency for the island of Ireland, and reflect this in a programme of coordination and joint action - utilising the capacity of the institutions and bodies of the Good Friday Agreement - to realise the tangible benefits of cooperation for this most urgent and common challenge for the shared island;
Well-being measures of progress
- there is scope and potential to develop cooperation around the shared interest in developing well-being measures of progress which move beyond narrow GDP-based assessments;
- there is potential to use the well-being frameworks as a tool to facilitate engagement with a wide range of stakeholders across the island, to inform priorities in relation to key challenges, and to learn from each other;
- the Central Statistics Office (CSO) and the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) could cooperate in the development and application of well-being indicators and other measures; and
- a North-South (and East-West) element should be built into groups that are set up to design and refine the respective well-being frameworks.
On April 12th, 2022 Taoiseach Micheál Martin T.D. gave the keynote address at a hybrid event organised to discuss this report and its recommendations. The INOU was one of the participants on the third panel discussion, which explored that question “What are the main possibilities for cooperation on social policy & wellbeing for the island?”
Further information on this initiative is linked here and the full NESC report is linked here.