There are opportunities for children and young people to have their voices heard on the issues most important to them.
Comhairle na Óg
Comhairle na Óg are child and youth councils in the 31 local authorities of the country, which give children and young people the opportunity to be involved in the development of local services and policies.
Hub na nÓg
Hub na Óg is a national centre of excellence and coordination on giving children and young people a voice in decision-making. It supports Government Departments, State agencies and non-government organisations to give children and young people a voice in decision-making with a particular focus on those that are seldom-heard. In 2021, the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Roderic O’Gorman TD, launched the ‘National Framework for Children and Young People’s Participation in Decision-Making’. Developed by Hub na nÓg in association with Professor Laura Lundy, the Participation Framework provides guidance and checklists for decision-makers for empowering young people to have a voice in decision-making in a meaningful way.
Ombudsman for Children’s (OCO) Youth Advisory Panel
The OCO’s Youth Advisory Panel was established so that children and young people could raise what they were concerned about and highlight their opinions to people who make decisions that affect them. You can find out more about the Youth Advisory Panel here.
Empowering Young Leaders
Voice, Rights, Action! Youth Led Research Report
This report presents the findings of a participatory research project with a Youth Advisory Panel in Ireland designed to better understand children’s knowledge of their own rights, identify gaps in their knowledge and skills, and to develop recommendations that will help to address those gaps in Children’s Rights Education through policy and practice. The project was commissioned by the Children’s Rights Alliance and undertaken by researchers from the School of Education, University College Dublin.
Read the report here.
