Ms Prachi Agrawal:

I am delighted to represent Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown Comhairle na nÓg. After 50 years of our membership of the European Union, I reflect on how immensely this country has progressed because of it. We have grown from a country of political and economic turbulence to a nation with remarkable opportunities and overall standard of living. However, as times progress and change, we must adapt and maintain that level of remarkability for generations to come.

This generation has grown up during the age of uncountable historic events and there is no doubt this has had a monumental impact on the way we perceive the world around us. From living through a global pandemic to the current climate crisis, we have grown up looking at people suffering and the planet dying from a very young age. It does not help that we are growing up during a time of rapid technological progression and the rise of social media, being exposed to an abundance of content before we can even create our own opinions.

I will talk about how all of these issues are closely interlinked and how certain EU policies could potentially solve not one but many of these problems. On a European level, climate change has been a core topic of discussion and some amazing initiatives have been introduced. The European Green Deal, for example, aims to transform Europe into a carbon-neutral continent by 2050. Some funding provided by the EU has been used in fantastic ways, including to restore many bogs and in agricultural activity, but a lot more can be done.

The 2020 European semester country report for Ireland stated that transport and building were hindering our progress towards becoming carbon neutral. Using funding for accessible and affordable transport and green urban development could have a massive and positive impact on our progress.

As students, one of the best and most beneficial resources for us is education. Funding science sectors that investigate and develop reliable renewable energy sources, supporting students of all demographics to pursue environmentally-inclined careers and providing equal opportunities to students to keep different perspectives in the climate conversation would enable us to contribute to change from a young age and not feel helpless about our future. The benefits of education do not stop at climate change. The digital education action plan is a brilliant EU policy initiative that integrates technology into education. We noticed during the pandemic how crucial technology was to us. It allowed people to make a living, receive an education, stay connected and enabled the entire global market to still function. Technology has proved to be integral to our lives, especially those of this generation, yet there are many cases where the digital world has affected us in a harmful or detrimental way because of its growing dangers. Integrating technology into first, second and third level education through accessible and affordable equipment, digitally trained staff and inclusive and user-friendly lessons are just some of the many ways to allow children to understand the online world from a young age, thereby allowing us to feel confident in using technology because it is so prevalent in today's society. Technology could genuinely be the future if it is kept safe and used properly.

As I said, everything is closely related and linked. Quality education empowers students to explore opportunities and develop interests in fields that are necessary and useful in the future, such as climate change and technology. This is just one of the many knock-on effects the implementation of certain EU policies would have on this generation and the population as a whole.