Mr. Chris Quinn:

-----with regard to the North-South Youth Forum with some colleagues, North and South. Before I leave, I wanted to add some comments around the issue of Covid. It is obviously a huge one and young people have talked a lot about how their rights have been impacted from a North-South perspective. Based on some of the conversations we have had, one of the good things is young people are becoming more accustomed to the language of rights and they have talked about human rights as a key priority area. On Covid-19, a massive number of young people felt that it impacted on their right to have a say, and that is both North and South. They felt left out of the discussion. They felt that their mental health had deteriorated significantly throughout the pandemic and that the issues around access to information were big.

In terms of cross-Border issues, young people talk a lot about healthcare, education and transport as well as economic disadvantage.

I am glad that Ms Gildernew brought up the bill of rights as well. That is a pertinent issue that young people are really engaged in at the moment. I guess there is frustration. In many ways, there is a perfect storm brewing. People are very frustrated. There is a massive disconnect. There are all these things going on at the minute, with the Brexit Protocol and Covid-19. In the North, you have universal credit and welfare reform issues and rising poverty, and across the island of Ireland we are seeing issues around housing and homelessness rocketing. People are really frustrated and I guess the theme of today is to give people a space to have a say on these issues that are really important.

If the Chairman does not mind, I will excuse myself now. I thank all the members for the opportunity to speak today and I thank Dr. Soares for bringing me in. Hopefully, I will see the committee again along with some young people. Hopefully, the young people will be doing the talking the next time.