Mr. Zac Taylor-Clarke:

I am a member of the Northern Ireland Youth Forum executive committee and I am a trustee of the organisation. What is reconciliation? What does it mean and has Northern Ireland, Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland really understood the concept of what it means to reconcile our differences? For myself, our community is made up of people with different opinions. The very concept of peace building is about helping people to resolve their differences peacefully and to prevent future violence. Do I think this has been fully achieved since the Good Friday Agreement? No. However, are there avenues that fulfil the Good Friday Agreement? There are. If the committee takes me, for example, I am a Protestant, British unionist from east Belfast speaking in the Seanad today, and I have been able to reconcile the peace that was created for my generation. I think I have, but that only happens through programmes like this - the Northern Ireland Youth Forum. Through the Northern Ireland Youth Forum, I have found that young people want to end the division in our society in communities, housing, education and other public services. Young people do not want to be separated due to their religious beliefs and people in power should work together to understand their differences and celebrate that.

As a teenager from the Protestant, unionist and loyalist, PUL, community, I did not meet my first Catholic and nationalist friend until I was 16, only two years ago. Northern Ireland is practising reconciliation in name only. It has become a soundbite in British and European politics for the past two decades. The only way I gained a sense of perspective was through youth work. Through my own extensive conversations, I know the past is told differently to people from all communities. Accepting one another's views is not reconciliation because, trust me, I strongly disagree in that department. Rather, it is about listening to and understanding one another’s upbringing and beliefs to further your own perspective. Currently, that is being achieved only through organisations such as this one that seek to create a better and brighter future for us all. From my personal perspective, peace building is a two-way street. We cannot learn from the past if we do not understand the past. My generation is having to pick up the mess of the past and properly reconcile our differences now, 25 years since the Good Friday Agreement, ensuring the main objective is to respect one another's cultures and identities rather than glorify the atrocities of the past. If we are truly committed to the Good Friday Agreement, we will find the solutions to deal with these issues and prevent the next generation from having to commit to them now.

In light of the cross-community work of my friends and colleagues in the Northern Ireland Youth Forum, we have key asks as a starting point, such as more funding for youth work to increase representation from unrepresented communities, investment in safe spaces to talk about peace building, legacy and our identity, and allowing young people to speak directly to people in power about the power of peace building. That final point speaks volumes, in that the real work is being done by young people who are shaping the future and success of Northern Ireland, and that is the true future of Northern Ireland and us all.