Ireland: Youth Councils Boost Political Participation and Engagement

Challenge

Embedding child and youth participation in decision-making at the local and national levels is not always easy - particularly in channeling proposals from cities and communities to national-level decision-making processes.

Solution

 To make the voices of children and young people heard in national decision-making processes related to policy and service development, the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth supports an association of youth councils (Comhairle na nÓg), which brings together 31 local child and youth councils from across the country.

The core programme of local youth councils centers on young people identifying, prioritizing and raising topics important to them and supports them in influencing local decision-makers to achieve the desired outcome, impact, or change. Every local youth council holds an Annual General Meeting, to which children and young people are invited from local schools and youth groups. Attendance ranges from 80 -150 young people, depending on the size of the city or county. At the meetings, young people work on identifying the topics of most importance to them and select a committee to represent them. This committee is responsible for working on the topics identified and serves as the consultative forum that works with decision-makers. Significant efforts are made to promote these meetings in schools designated as having a high proportion of children from disadvantaged communities.

One representative from each of the 31 local child and youth councils is elected to a national youth parliament (called Comhairle na nÓg National Executive). The youth parliament has a term of office of two years and meets once a month. It is facilitated and supported by theDepartment of Children, Equality, Disability and Youth, who ensure that they get the opportunity to engage with appropriate Ministers, policy makers, and other decision-makers.

The national youth parliament is elected once every two years at a national event. It gives young people the opportunity to express their views at a national level and to work for changes to improve the lives of young people in Ireland. The event brings more than 200 young people together from all over Ireland to debate issues which concern them, question adult decision-makers, and to propose and vote on recommendations for change.

Impact

The work of the local youth councils and the integration of the child and youth participation structures in the political decision-making processes in Ireland has so far led to great results. A recent success story is the adoption of the youth travel card, which provides a 50% discount on all public transport systems for all children and young people up to the age of 23 to ensure better and climate-friendly mobility, notably for children and young people living in rural areas.

Increasingly, local agencies also use the local youth councils as a mechanism to consult young people on the development of services and policies, such as heritage plans, play and recreation policies, policing plans, giving feedback on youth-friendly questionnaires, location or type of new sports facilities to be established in the area etc. Local youth councils are even asked for formal submissions on local policies or to take part in public consultations.