Public Consultation on the next Government Policy Framework for the Participation of Children and Young People in Decision Making.

Tá comhairliúchán dúnta

We want to hear from you!

The Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Roderic O’Gorman, has launched a public consultation on the next Government Policy Framework for the Participation of Children and Young People in Decision Making.

You can submit your views up until midnight Monday 23rd January 2023.

Purpose

The views and opinions collected from this consultation will be considered and will help inform the next policy framework for children and young people’s participation in decision-making in Ireland. This policy framework will build on the achievements of the National Strategy for Children and Young People’s Participation in Decision Making 2015 – 2020. The Strategy was guided and influenced by Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, which ensures the right of the child to have their views heard and given due weight in all matters that affect them. The Strategy is primarily aimed at children and young people under the age of 18, but also includes the voice of young people in the transition to adulthood.

The Strategy set out commitments across the whole of government to ensure that children and young people were included in decision making:

in their local communities.
in early education, schools and the wider formal and non-formal education systems.
in decisions that affect their health and well-being, including on the health and social services delivered to them.
in the courts and legal system.

Additionally the Strategy set out commitments to ensure:

that children and young people are consulted or otherwise included in decision making in the development of policy, legislation and research.
that there is leadership in place to support this work, including education and training for professionals working with and on behalf of children and young people.

DCEDIY is now developing the next phase of participation policy building on progress made under the Participation Strategy. A Final Review of the Participation Strategy will be published in the coming weeks and will be available to view on gov.ie once published.

DCEDIY is keen to hear your views to inform the development of this participation framework. You can do this in one of two ways, before midnight Monday 23rd January 2023:

1. By open submission, following the guidelines below, emailed to citizenparticipation@equality.gov.ie

2. By responding to the survey link below.

Option 1: Open Submissions

You can send the submission on your own behalf, or on behalf of your organisation. Submissions can be made in Irish or in English. Please consider the following questions in your submission and keep submissions to no more than 2000 words.

What is working well in how children and young people are supported to participate in decision-making in Ireland in all matters that affect them?
What is not working well in how children and young people are supported to participate in decision-making in Ireland in all matters that affect them?
What needs to change in how children and young people are supported to participate in decision-making in Ireland in all matters that affect them?
How can government remove barriers so that all children and young people can equally participate in decision making in all matters that affect them and in the services they receive from the state?
What top priorities should the new policy framework focus on?

Responses will be collated into a report to inform the development of next stage of national policy for Children and Young People’s Participation in Decision-Making. The report will be published as part of the suite of documents informing this work. Extracts from submissions or survey answers may be quoted in the report.

Please note that individual submissions will not be responded to.

Email your submission to citizenparticipation@equality.gov.ie before midnight Monday 23rd January, 2023.

Option 2: Survey

Respond to the following survey before midnight Monday 23rd January, 2023.