From Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth
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The Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Roderic O’Gorman, and the Minister for Minister for Environment, Climate and Communications and Minister for Transport, Eamon Ryan convened the first ever National Youth Assembly of Ireland when it met today as the National Youth Assembly on Climate.
Minister O’Gorman convened the Assembly with Minister Ryan who spoke with the delegates about their views and their proposed recommendations on climate action.
At the Assembly, Minister O’Gorman said:
“Today is a proud moment for me as Minister, this first meeting of the National Youth Assembly of Ireland realizes commitments made in the Programme for Government 2020 to establish Youth Assemblies.
“I am very happy to support Minister Ryan in seeing through this commitment in the National Dialogue on Climate Action to include the voice of young people in policy-making. Young people have led the way on calling for stronger, more urgent climate action. It is imperative that we listen to their voices and heed their calls.
“The young people here today made history, as the first Youth Assembly on Climate, which is to become an annual event. The formal establishment of National Youth Assembly of Ireland is an important step in Government in hearing the voice of young people in Ireland.”
When speaking with the delegates, Minister Ryan said:
“Today marks the first meeting of the National Youth Assembly on Climate, through which the voice of young people will be heard and brought to bear in the Climate Action Plan.
“This week’s report on the impacts of Climate Change from the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) underlines the need to act decisively to avoid the most damaging and catastrophic effects. Decisive action means that we need to involve everyone in society in climate action. In Ireland, our National Dialogue on Climate Action (NDCA) is the enduring structure through which we will engage, enable, and empower people to co-create solutions and realise our ambitions to become carbon neutral by 2050.
"The establishment of the National Youth Assembly on Climate is a significant milestone in the delivery of the NDCA and the beginning of a yearlong programme of engagement activities involving people from across the country on climate action. Today young delegates embraced this challenge, gave of their time to shape our future, and will play a key role in defining how we make the transition to a cleaner, healthier and more sustainable future.”
ENDS
The Department of Children, Disability, Equality, Integration and Youth (DCEDIY) has established a National Youth Assembly of Ireland. The establishment of Youth Assemblies is a commitment in the Programme for Government 2020. The Assembly acts as a consultative forum for children and young people between the ages of 12 and 24 on issues that are important to them. It provides a systematic means of capturing the voices of young people in Ireland and feeding this directly into the development of Government policy.
By hearing from young people, the National Youth Assembly of Ireland will provide insight into some of the concerns facing young people, and assist Government in acting on the potential solutions that young people propose.
The Assembly will meet up to four times a year on different issues including an annual meeting as the Youth Assembly on Climate. The Youth Assembly on Climate will act as a vehicle for dialogue and will develop recommendations from young people for inclusion in the Government’s Climate Action Plan. The first of these meetings took place today, 2nd March 2022.
The Assembly comprises of 30 delegates, nominated from established youth organisations, who will sit for a term of 18 months. They will be joined at each Assembly by up to 10 guest delegates who have a special interest in specific topics such as climate issues, rural development etc. The delegates range in ages from 12 to 24 years and come from all across Ireland.
Under Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, Ireland is committed to giving children and young people a say in decision-making and a voice in decisions that affect their lives. The continued participation of young people in youth assemblies such as the Youth Assembly on Climate ensures that we can include the voice of children and young people in the development of both local and national services and policies.
DCEDIY makes including the voice of the child in decision-making a priority and plays an important role in leading Government efforts to ensure that children and young people have a voice in decisions that affect their lives.
DCEDIY’s National Participation Office works across local and national Government to build, develop and sustain structures to enable the meaningful participation of children and young people in decision making at local and national level.
The Rural Youth Assembly convened in November 2021 as a precursor to the National Youth Assembly. Young people were consulted on their experiences and views on rural Ireland. The views of the young people will inform recommendations for future actions under the Our Rural Future work programme.
A fundamental element of the realisation of the ambitions of Climate Action Plan 2021 is the engagement and empowerment of everyone in society to co-create solutions that are relevant to them.
The NDCA is the key mechanism through which climate actions related to public engagement, participation, community action, networking and capacity building activities are delivered in Ireland.
In 2021, a series of in-depth climate conversations took place which captured the views of over 3,800 people, including inputs from 100 young people from Comhairle na nÓg. These conversations identified areas where people are already making changes and where they feel they lack resources to pursue these changes.
The National Dialogue on Climate Action (NDCA) is led by the Department of Climate, Environment and Communications (DECC) with secretariat support provided by the EPA.
The NDCA has three key objectives:
The National Youth Assembly on Climate represents a significant milestone in the NDCA programme.
This is the first major milestone in the yearlong programme of activities involving young people which include:
As well as providing the delegates with information packs in advance of the Assembly, DCEDIY hosted an information session in February to help prepare them for the Assembly. At the preparation session, delegates heard from the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications along with the following guest speakers: