National Youth Assembly of Ireland convenes for the first time as the Youth Assembly on Climate

• Minister O’Gorman convenes the National Youth Assembly of Ireland as it meets for the first time as the Youth Assembly on Climate.
• National Youth Assembly on Climate delegates discuss climate issues and make recommendations to Minister Ryan for inclusion in the Government’s Climate Action Plan.

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:

When speaking with the delegates, Minister Ryan said:

ENDS

Establishment of the National Youth Assembly of Ireland

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.

National Dialogue on Climate Action (NDCA)

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:

• Improving climate literacy by creating awareness about, and promoting understanding of, climate change.
• Fund, support, and enable engagement in climate action at a local and national level, conducting public consultations, and promoting self-efficacy by empowering the public to adopt more sustainable behaviours.
• Capturing insights from engagement activities and conducting social and behavioural research to measure behavioural change among the public, providing an evidence base to inform the Climate Action Plan and sectoral climate policies.

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:

• A national public consultation on the Climate Action Plan
• A National Stakeholder Forum.
• Building climate action into the national curriculum at primary, secondary and at third level
• Various programmes delivered through An Taisce including Green Schools, Climate Ambassadors, and Young Reporters for the Environment.

How do we help prepare the delegates in advance of the Assembly?

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:

• Emeritus Professor John Sweeney is a professor in Maynooth University. He has taught courses in Climatology, Biogeography, Geomorphology and Environmental Resource Management. He has served as the President of the Irish Meteorological Society and the Geographical Society of Ireland.
• Treasa Cadogan is the UN Youth Delegate for Ireland. She is currently a fellow with One Young World. Treasa co-founded the UCC Fighting World Hunger Chapter – An initiative to raise awareness and create action around access to affordable, nutritious food on campus. In 2020, Treasa was awarded the Climate Ambassador Outstanding Achievement Award for her contribution to Climate Action in Ireland.
• Dr Cara Augustenborg is an environmental scientist and media personality. She is an Assistant Professor in Landscape Studies and Environmental Policy in UCD. She is a member of Ireland’s Climate Change Advisory Council and a member of the President of Ireland’s Council of State. She is also a former chairperson of both Friends of the Earth Europe and Friends of the Earth Ireland.
• Finlay Thomson is a 16 year old TY student, climate activist and musician from North West Donegal. He is an active member of Foróige’s eCollective and has helped to bring to life two seasons of their podcast series – Future-Proof Living. He contributed to Madam De Temmerman’s report on “Inaction on climate change: a violation of children’s rights” and also presented at the first ever “Network meeting of Contact Parliamentarians for a healthy environment” meeting which was held online.