Youth participation in Ireland

Is there a national youth council, representing young people in your country? If yes, please provide the name, number of member organisations and number of young members.

YES, Name: NYCI; Member nos: 54 organisations; Young members: 11

 

Is there a ministry dealing concretely with the youth affairs in your country? If yes, please provide the name of the ministry.

YES, Minister for Children and Youth Affairs

 

Does the government in your country has a specific youth policy/youth strategy?

YES

 

From what age are young people allowed to vote in the elections? If different age for different elections (parliamentary, local, regional, etc.), please specify.

18 years for all

 

From what age are young people allowed to be elected in the elections to the representative bodies? If different age for different elections (parliamentary, local, regional, etc.), please specify.

18 years old

 

Are there any youth participation initiatives at the local level (in municipalities), e.g. local youth parliaments/youth councils, meetings of young people with decision-makers? Please describe.

Yes, For instance, NYIC (National Youth Council of Ireland Youth Event). 2 participants were chosen to represent Ireland at the Swedish EU Presidency Event.

 

Are there youth participation/decision-making bodies at schools, e.g. school parliaments, student councils, etc.? Please describe.

 

Are there are youth parliaments or other youth participation bodies on the national level? Please describe.

 

Is there any kind of education to youth participation/active citizenship included in the school curricula in your country, e.g. civic education? Please describe.

Yes all students are required to take 1 hour of civic education a week until the Junior certificate exam

 

Do media inform about youth issues? Are young people involved in media and their production, e.g. as journalists? Please describe.

Yes, It does but I think that just people interested in youth issues takes advantage on Media work

 

Are there youth information centres, official youth websites or other sources of youth information available for young people? Please describe.

Yes, there are different youth centres and Volunteering centres along Ireland.

 

Are young people in your country informed about the European youth policy and its priorities? What do you think can be done to make young people aware about this? Please describe.

Not too many people want to get involved in the European youth policy or it is not among their priorities. Obviously by information (internet, tv, newspapers), people can know more about youth policies and to get they are more involved on it.

 

Author: Ivan Lentijo
E-mail: lentoclub@hotmail.com

The surveys were submitted by the participants of the YouthVoice project from the respective EU Member States. The questionnaires were part of their preparation for the Youth Voice project and each national group had to undertake a small research about youth participation in their country. The organisers cannot guarantee correctness of the answers.