18-year-olds get free EU travel passes

20 people from the region and wider North West selected.

Close to two dozen young people from Cavan, Monaghan, Donegal, Sligo, Leitrim, received free travel passes to explore Europe in 2024 under the DiscoverEU programme, the European Commission announced.

DiscoverEU gives 18-year old Europeans from all backgrounds the opportunity to travel across Europe, learn from other cultures, build new friendships with fellow Europeans, and explore their European identity.

Some 20 people from the region and wider North West have been given the unique opportunity.

Dubliners (89) are the largest group among the 407 lucky Irish winners who will also get a second pass for a friend to accompany them in their European travel adventures.

The second largest bunch of Irish winners come from counties Wicklow, Kildare, Meath and Louth – 83, while Cork and Kerry together have 67 young European voyagers.

In total, 768 18-year-olds from Ireland applied for the free travel passes in early October 2023 in the current round of Discover EU.

Across Europe, a total of 144 038 young applied and 36,318 of them won travel passes. They will travel mainly by rail between March 2024 and May 2025.

The next round of DiscoverEU applications will open in April 2024.

To be eligible, young people must be EU citizens or legal residents of the EU.