Presentation Castleisland student Fiona Brosnan will represent Ireland at the 95th International Session of the European Youth Parliament in Serbia later this month.
The session will be held in Novi Sad under the theme ‘Bridging the Culture Gap’ and it will include more than 200 participants from across Europe and Fiona is one of just five Irish students to make the trip.
“We are all very proud of Fiona who has shown great leadership skills and determination to achieve this goal. She will be an excellent representative of her community, school and country.” said Presentation Castleisland teacher, Annette Leen.
Days of Open Debate
“I will be working with a committee to prepare a resolution that promotes carbon-neutral transport options, and improves the high-speed train network across our continent,” said Fiona by way of explaining the purpose of the trip.
“Once this piece of legislation has been written and finalised, at the end of the session, there will be three days of formal, open debate.
“Here, I will debate both my resolution and the resolutions of 10 other committees, who will have written up other possible legislation on a range of different topics,” said Fiona.
European Youth Parliament
“All five Irish students have been allocated different committees. This means that each student will be preparing a resolution on a different issue – such as post-Covid economic stability, migrant rights, cryptocurrency and current threats to democracy – and we will all debate each topic at the end.
“I began my journey with the European Youth Parliament in Transition Year. During Transition year students are encouraged to pursue their interests. Since a lot of the year was spent in lock-down, it gave me the opportunity to think about what I was interested in and what aspects of life I want to learn more about.
An Incredible Experience
“The European Youth Parliament was one of several organisations I applied for. I took part in the Munster’s session online, and then got through to the national competition.
“It’s been an incredible experience because, aside from learning so much about so many new topics, I have found it to be genuinely fun.
“So far, my topic specifications have been on the ethical impacts of private-sector Artificial Intelligence and the regulation of Corporate Tax avoidance.
Give Them a Go
“I would never have thought about either of the two before taking part; much less did I expect to enjoy the challenge so much.
“I would really encourage people to sign up for opportunities like this and give them a go – I stumbled across this one online by chance.
“Going into EYP, I had no experience with serious debating and I wasn’t familiar with any of the topics I was actually speaking about.
Grateful for the Opportunity
Things like this can surprise you – I would never have expected to be going to internationals!
I’m really looking forward to the experience and I’m very grateful for the opportunity to be involved in something like this,” Fiona concluded.
You can contac
t The Maine Valley Post on… Anyone in The Maine Valley Post catchment area who would like to send us news and captioned photographs for inclusion can send them to: jreidy@mainevalleypost.com Queries about advertising and any other matters regarding The Maine Valley Post can also be sent to that address or just ring: 087 23 59 467.
