Consultation
Public Consultation to inform a new Action Plan for Youth Services
From Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth
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Last updated on
The Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth has launched a public consultation to inform the development of a new Action Plan for Youth Services.
Youth services in Ireland provide young people aged 10 – 24 with the opportunity to take part in and avail of an array of out-of-school youth work and related developmental activities and supports. These include (but are not limited to) local youth clubs, projects and interventions aimed at young people at risk of social exclusion, youth cafés and other supported spaces for young people in their communities, mentoring programmes, personal challenge programmes such as Gaisce – The President’s Award; and international youth exchanges and opportunities.
Youth services support and empower young people as they grow to adulthood, promoting their wellbeing, helping them to develop their potential and overcome adversity, and connecting them with their community and the wider world. Data from the National Growing Up in Ireland survey indicates that 34% of the surveyed young people at aged 13 and 14% at aged 17 and 18 had participated in a youth group of some kind. In 2022, the Department provided almost €75 million to support youth services across the country.
The Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth will shortly publish its new National Policy Framework for Children and Young People. One of the commitments of the Framework is to develop a new Action Plan for Youth Services with a focus on enhancing the provision of youth services in Ireland. It is intended for the Action Plan to be finalised by the end of 2023.
We want to ensure that young people have access to engaging, high-quality and sustainable youth services that meet their needs and that work well together and with other sectors for the benefit of young people.
To help inform the Department’s approach to the development of the Action Plan for Youth Services, the Minister is seeking your views on current youth service provision in Ireland and what improvements you would like to see.
The focus of this Public Consultation is on youth work and related leisure-time developmental opportunities and supports for young people. These include youth clubs and projects, whether for all young people or targeted at particular groups and including all delivery mechanisms; special interest youth groups and organisations; youth mentoring programmes; uniformed groups such as the Scouts and Guides; participation in leisure-time youth achievement, social entrepreneurship and civic engagement activities and youth-led volunteering; youth exchanges and residentials in Ireland or internationally; youth information centres; and dedicated low-cost or free spaces for young people such as youth cafés.
You can submit your views in one of two ways, before midnight Friday 14th July 2023:
- By written submission, using the template below, emailed to youthactionplan@equality.gov.ie
You can send the submission on your own behalf, or on behalf of your organisation. Submissions can be made in Irish or in English.
- By responding to the survey link below.
You may wish to respond to one or to both of the above options, as there are different questions contained within each.
While an organisation may wish to make an a submission or complete the survey on behalf of the organisation as a whole, individual members of that organisation e.g. paid staff, volunteers, managers, youth officers etc. may also complete the survey on their own behalf.
All the responses received to this consultation will be reviewed and taken into consideration in the development of the Action Plan for Youth Services. Responses will be collated into a published report and extracts from submissions or survey answers may be quoted in the report.
All submissions and comments submitted to the Department for this purpose are subject to release in line with the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 2014. Responses received are also subject to Data Protection legislation - see the Department’s Privacy Notice.