Pictures: Young delegates gather in Cork for Model United Nations conference 

More than 600 post primary students from almost 40 schools from across Ireland and one from Spain, have gathered at Cork City Hall this week as the country’s largest Model United Nations Conference returns again for the seventh year.

The Davis College Model United Nations Conference (DCMUN), which runs from Tuesday to Friday, sees students debate current political, economic and social issues facing Ireland, Europe and the wider world.

The four-day conference provides students with a unique mock EU parliament style platform to tackle crucial world issues, with Mallow’s Davis College, a Cork Education and Training Board (Cork ETB) school, playing host to students from 37 Irish schools and one school from Valladolid, Spain.

The principal of Davis College, Stephen Gilbert, said he is immensely proud of the fantastic opportunity that this conference offers to delegates, reminding them that they "are the future politicians, policy makers and company directors and they have the power to make change happen."

This year’s conference will include debate and discussion on the following topics:

• The revision and reform of the Geneva Convention.
• The Israel-Hamas war and the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
• The reform of intelligence agencies and secret services.
• A universal system of national government.
• Regulating decentralised forms of currency.
• The ethical integration of artificial intelligence in the workplace & educational setting.
• Online data protection and the prevention of exploitation of youths online.
• Enhancing food and water security in changing climates and promoting sustainable agricultural practices.
• Implementing a coordinated worldwide emergency response to natural disasters.
• Introducing comprehensive sex education into communities, schools and health care centres.
• The unification and regulation of voting and electoral systems worldwide.
• Emergency refugee accommodation and societal integration programmes.
• Equitable marriage laws; with special regard to the LGBTQIA+ community & victims of arranged marriages.

Welcoming delegates to the conference Denis Leamy, chief executive of Cork ETB, pointed out that  the world currently has the largest youth population in history.

“One in every three people alive today is under the age of 30. This has the potential to transform our world for good," said Mr Leamy. 

“We have many challenges in the world and you will play a role in how we adapt to these challenges. However, to achieve this, it is critical as young people you are given time and space to talk about the issues that are and will affect our global world," he added.