merrion street

Dr Katherine Zappone TD, Minister for Children and Youth Affairs will today (30 May 2016) attend the Council meeting of Ministers for Youth in Brussels. Ministers will debate the role of youth policy and the youth sector in developing an integrated approach to support youth in their identity development. The discussions will focus on how strong and positive identity development is essential for young people to become competent participants in an open and diverse democratic society.
The Ministers’ discussions have been influenced by terror attacks in Copenhagen, Brussels and Paris over the last eighteen months. Ministers for Youth across the EU are convinced that youth services have a key role to support young people and to challenge the intolerance and racism that can marginalise young people and leave them vulnerable to extremist influences.
Minister Zappone will emphasise the need for policy makers to listen to the voices of young people when formulating strategies, as well as the voices of other key stakeholders including frontline youth workers. Over 60 young people in Ireland, from diverse geographic, ethnic, social and economic backgrounds participated in the recent “Young Voices” event where they discussed themes such as cultural diversity, equal treatment and the need to tackle disadvantage and what they want policy makers to do about them. The event is as part of an EU wide consultation on “enabling all young people to engage in a diverse, connected and inclusive Europe”.
The Minister will talk about work under way in the Irish youth services to build a sense of community and civic participation and foster good relations between young people from different backgrounds.
Speaking about the upcoming Council meeting the Minister said “It is important that EU member states share experiences and that Ministers for Youth work collaboratively with Ministers for Education and with the youth sector to develop effective policies to support young people to find their way in society. Most importantly young people themselves need to have their say and to participate in the decisions that will shape their world”.
The Ministers will also adopt Council conclusions at their meeting on the role of the youth sector working with others to prevent and combat the violent radicalisation of young people. They will also have discussions with Ministers for Education about how best to foster open mindsets and tolerant attitudes among young people.