Mr. Mark McNulty:

I thank Deputy Calleary for his questions. I will address the question on climate anxiety. I know it was not directed at me but it is something we have talked about recently within the NYCI. One cannot get through a large group meeting about topics that worry young people without talking about climate. It is an intersectional issue that crosses over into so many other areas and young people are very worried about it, both with regard to their own futures, what their own lives will be like and whether there is a point because of that feeling of impending doom, but also for the future of others, including people in the global south and so forth. That is something about which young people are very worried so I wanted to address that.

On the matter of the European Year of Youth being a surprise, it was a surprise in the context of the announcement made by the European Commission, not in how it has been addressed on either a national or European level by agencies since then. The announcement was made late last year. Other years have two or three years of planning and sometimes longer. There is an opportunity now to work and to try to make this year as good as possible but it is important to highlight that it was a surprise to absolutely everyone and everyone has done their best in a very short amount of time.