Taoiseach Micheál Martin has today, 29 June, hosted the fifth Shared Island Forum at the Windmill Quarter in the Dublin Docklands.

The Taoiseach will deliver the keynote address at the event, detailing the initiative's progress in collaborating with all communities and political traditions across the island to establish a shared future based on the Good Friday Agreement.

The staging of this year's forum follows the Government's recent announcement allocating an additional €377 million to 12 major all-island investment projects. This latest funding brings the total commitments from the Government's Shared Island Fund to €1 billion.

More than 220 political, civic, community, and economic stakeholders from across the island of Ireland are attending the event, which is also being livestreamed online.

Attendees will experience a musical performance by young songwriters and musicians from Laois, Offaly, and Northern Ireland who are involved with the Isle of Song project. The forum will additionally host two panel discussions: the first will examine the benefits, opportunities, and challenges of infrastructure and sustainability investments across the island, while the second will explore the concept of a 'shared home place' on personal, local, and island-wide levels.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin said: "At the Shared Island Forum today, I will be setting out the sustained progress we have made since I established the Government's Shared Island Initiative nearly six years ago, and the important work underway in connecting people and communities across the island.

"Following Government approval last week of allocations of over €377 million from the Shared Island Fund, our total commitments from the fund are now more than €1 billion, with nearly 50 major Shared Island projects underway. This is tangible investment for the future of the island.

"All-island cooperation is deepening across virtually every sector. From enterprise and education to research, tourism and climate action, Shared Island programmes are enabling partners to work together more effectively, deliver greater impact and create lasting benefits for communities across the island.

"We are also advancing the next chapter of our dialogue strand through the Shared Home Place programme, which I announced last year. New programme elements are now being rolled out through the Heritage Council, Coimisiún na Meán, Creative Ireland, and through the Diaspora Voices initiative led by our Mission Network. These programmes will offer opportunities to explore the diverse heritage, history and culture of our island home and invite reflection on what a shared home place means for people across the island today, and what it could mean in the future.

"As Ireland takes up the Presidency of the Council of the European Union later this week, the forum also provides an opportunity to reflect on the role of the EU over decades and to this day, in supporting peace and prosperity across the island of Ireland, including through successive PEACE programmes."