AFTER 2,366 APPLICATIONS in Ireland, 131 free tickets have been awarded granting Irish teens a free interrail pass to travel around Europe.

Those chosen in Ireland are among 14,500 across the EU who will receive the free interrail pass to journey through Europe by train between 15 April and 31 October for up to 30 days.

In all, 80,000 18-year-olds across Europe applied for the scheme. 

As well as the travel pass, the teens will be given pre-departure guidance and will be able to contact each other on social media.

This is the second year of the DiscoverEU scheme which has been given €16 million by the European Parliament. Last year, it gave 15,000 teenagers a free train ticket to travel around Europe.

Under proposed funding plans that would expand the money available for DiscoverEU, it is hoped that an additional 1.5 million 18-year-olds will be able to travel on the scheme to 2027.

Ireland south MEP Deirdre Clune said she was delighted to see so many Irish people be given the passes.

She said: “The scheme was a huge success last summer with thousands of Irish people applying for tickets and with more tickets now being offered it means more people can avail of the scheme.

There is so much to learn across Europe and a scheme such as this is very welcome in helping young people as they learn and develop. It is great to see so much interest from young people in the scheme and I would encourage the creation of more schemes like this.