{"id":165157,"date":"2025-11-06T01:02:26","date_gmt":"2025-11-06T01:02:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/165157\/"},"modified":"2025-11-06T01:02:26","modified_gmt":"2025-11-06T01:02:26","slug":"young-people-across-ireland-encouraged-to-apply-for-one-of-40000-free-eu-travel-passes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/165157\/","title":{"rendered":"Young people across Ireland encouraged to apply for one of 40,000 free EU travel passes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Irish 18-year-olds can apply individually or in groups of up to five<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/0_GettyImages-1133005161.jpg\" loading=\"eager\"  \/>40,000 travel passes are available (Image: Getty)<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"irishmirror\">Young people across Ireland are being encouraged to apply for one of 40,000 free travel passes available to 18-year-olds to travel across the <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.irishmirror.ie\/all-about\/european-union\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"EULink opens in a new tab.\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">EU<\/a> by rail.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"irishmirror\">Irish 18-year-olds can apply individually or in groups of up to five for the free travel passes, which are available through the European Commission\u2019s DiscoverEU initiative.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"irishmirror\">The <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.irishmirror.ie\/all-about\/european-commission\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"European CommissionLink opens in a new tab.\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">European Commission<\/a> and Interrail have teamed up to hand out the free rail passes to teenagers so that they can travel across the EU by rail, experiencing Europe\u2019s rich cultural diversity, heritage and traditions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"irishmirror\">Successful applicants will receive a travel pass valid for up to 30 days of travel between March 1 2026 and April 30 2027 across the EU. The programme is open to those turning 18 this year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"irishmirror\">Apart from getting free rail travel across the EU, those who are accepted will also be offered discounts on cultural visits, accommodation, local transport, and other services throughout Europe.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"irishmirror\">Ireland South MEP, <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.irishmirror.ie\/news\/irish-news\/crime\/crime-shoplifting-increase-ireland-garda-35007639\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"Cynthia N\u00ed Mhurch\u00faLink opens in a new tab.\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Cynthia N\u00ed Mhurch\u00fa<\/a>, described it as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for young people to travel, learn and connect with others across Europe.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"irishmirror\">She encouraged young people to apply, saying: \u201cFor many Irish students turning 18 this year, this is an opportunity to explore Europe, experience new languages, culture, and traditions. Parents, teachers, and youth organisations also have a vital role in ensuring this opportunity reaches every community \u2013 from city schools to rural towns \u2013 so that no young person misses out.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"irishmirror\">Applications are open until November 13, 2025 at 12pm via the European Youth Portal <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/youth.europa.eu\/discovereu_en\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"hereLink opens in a new tab.\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"irishmirror\"><strong class=\"Strong_strong__e2x35\">Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest news from the Irish Mirror direct to your inbox: <\/strong><strong class=\"Strong_strong__e2x35\"><a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.irishmirror.ie\/newsletter-preference-centre\/?view=Solus&amp;mailingListId=39e53cb8-b266-4e33-8d00-e9f7a38f420c&amp;utm_source=solusarticle\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"Sign up hereLink opens in a new tab.\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Sign up here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/0_Screenshot-2025-07-31-at-190436.png\" alt=\"\"  \/>Join Irish Mirror&#8217;s crime and court group on WhatsApp <\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Get all the big crime and court stories direct to your phone on our new WhatsApp service.<strong class=\"Strong_strong__e2x35\"> <\/strong><a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/chat.whatsapp.com\/L5Vs1ax39uZ8yz1STVB9aD\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"[object Object]Link opens in a new tab.\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><strong class=\"Strong_strong__e2x35\">Sign up here<\/strong><\/a>. If you don&#8217;t like our group you can leave it at any time<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Irish 18-year-olds can apply individually or in groups of up to five40,000 travel passes are available (Image: Getty)&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":165158,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[9,10,5766,2219,13,14,6,4723,11,12,15,16,5,7,8,4319,65,66,67],"class_list":{"0":"post-165157","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-european-commission","11":"tag-european-union","12":"tag-featured-news","13":"tag-featurednews","14":"tag-headlines","15":"tag-in-the-news","16":"tag-latest-news","17":"tag-latestnews","18":"tag-main-news","19":"tag-mainnews","20":"tag-news","21":"tag-top-stories","22":"tag-topstories","23":"tag-travel","24":"tag-world","25":"tag-world-news","26":"tag-worldnews"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115500060231480689","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=165157"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165157\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/165158"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=165157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=165157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=165157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}