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• Fitzgerald takes over Presidency of EU Council of Youth Ministers

• EU-wide consultation with young people to culminate with major EU Youth Conference to be held in Dublin in March

• Minister announces dates of three Irish consultation events

Frances Fitzgerald TD, Minister for Children and Youth Affairs has said that Ireland’s Presidency of the EU Council of Youth Ministers will focus on the role of youth work in supporting youth employment and the importance of quality standards in youth work.

The Minister also announced that Dublin will host a major EU Youth Conference which will mark the culmination of an ongoing EU-wide consultation with young people.

Minister Fitzgerald stated: "Ireland’s EU Presidency Programme which was launched this week focuses on stability, jobs and growth and this includes a priority objective on tackling youth unemployment.

"This is a theme which I will be contributing to during my Presidency of the EU Council of Youth Ministers, in particular through prioritising the objective contained in the Europe 2020 growth agenda to "develop youth work as a resource to support youth employability"

"There is growing recognition across Europe of the potential of youth work services to contribute to activation measures and to enhance employability for young people, in particular with the those not engaged in education, employment or training - the so called NEET’s cohort. Youth work services, while complimentary to formal education, operate in an informal, out-of-school setting and already provide a significant level of engagement with this NEET’s cohort. Youth work services, may therefore be in position to provide a value-added not readily-available to other activation programmes through offering outreach and support services to young people and through providing bridging programmes focused on developing skill-sets and job-readiness.

The Minister added that "the contribution of youth work to achieving the goals of Europe 2020 will be among the priorities issues considered by the Council of Youth Ministers during Ireland’s Presidency and this theme will also be the focus of an expert round table event which I will host in Ireland in June."

Minister Fitzgerald also today announced that she will host an EU Youth Conference from 11th to 13th March, to be held at the Royal Hospital Kilmainham. This will be one of the largest events held in Ireland during the Presidency involving young people and policy-makers from all 27 EU member states. The conference will mark the culmination of EU wide consultation with young people which in turn will feed-in to the consideration of policy decision by the Council of Minister meeting in May.

As part of the EU-wide consultation with young people, the Minister announced that her Department along with the National Youth Council of Ireland are organising three regional consultation events for young people aged 15-30, as follows:

• Glasshouse Hotel, Sligo, Saturday 26th January 2013 from 11am – 3.30pm

• Clarion Hotel, Cork, Saturday 2nd February 2013 from 11am – 3.30pm

• Gresham Hotel, Dublin, Saturday 9th February 2013 from 11am – 3.30pm

For more details please visit