Cork youths gather to discuss important issues

The Comhairle na nÓg Annual General Meeting or Youth Conference is where young people aged between 12 and 17 are invited to meet with the members of the current Comhairle na nÓg to discuss matters relating to local issues.

Our AGM will include speeches from members, live music, a sustainable snack table, a youth panel, an introduction to our current project on disability and more. At its heart the AGM is an opportunity for young people to join Comhairle na nÓg, meet other people their age and converse about topics, like climate change and public transport, that relate to and affect our lives.

Comhairle na nÓg means youth council, and is a collection of 31 youth councils across Ireland. Comhairle is funded by the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (DCEDIY) and encourages young people to get involved with the decision making processes that are involved in the creation of policies and services that affect their lives.

Young people under 18 are unable to vote in Ireland and Comhairle na nÓg enables young people to share their views and opinions on matters that are important to them, uplifting youth to get involved and support each other as they take their futures into their own hands. When in the process of developing new policies and projects or improving services both on a local and national level, agencies often invite Comhairle na nÓg members to events so that the agencies can hear the opinions of young people. This is beneficial for both parties as the agencies acquire a variety of different views and the youth know that they have an opportunity to express any concerns or suggest improvements.

There are a multitude of events and opportunities available for young people through Comhairle na nÓg as they become representatives. 

For example, being invited to events like the Annual Rural Youth Assembly, Youth Climate Justice Conferences, the National Youth Assembly on Gender Equality, the National LGBT+ Inclusion and Strategy consultation; a variety and endless amount of openings to get young people engaged in change. Comhairle members have even had the opportunity in the past to address the UN and the Seanad.

Comhairle na nÓg is a vehicle for young people to partake in activism and advocacy, to gain more information about topics that are being studied for the projects we work on and to make connections with other Comhairle na nÓg members across the country.

In 2024/25 Cork City Comhairle na nÓg will be working on a project focused on both visible and invisible disabilities, where we consult professionals and local schools about their experiences with disability and look at how we can tackle lack of understanding when it comes to disabilities. We will design a campaign that tackles disability stereotypes, misunderstandings and discrimination and host a corresponding social event for young people in Cork City.

Here in Cork City, we meet every second Wednesday and our meetings run between three and five o’clock in the council chamber at City Hall where we strategise for whatever topics we are working on. For the previous two years we worked on researching youth mental health, discussing with a multitude of sources and creating a zine that would give people a sense of direction in their struggle and tools to help them cope with.

On a larger scale, every Comhairle na nÓg has a National Executive representative. 

All thirty one of which meet once a month in Dublin to talk about and work on an issue which is voted in at the Dáil na nÓg once every two years. For the next two years, the National Executives will be striving to advocate for young people by pinpointing the causes of school stress and how they may find a solution to ease it.

Being a member of Comhairle na nÓg has made me more confident in meeting new people, more open to sharing my opinion with other people I have never met and has brought into being a bigger desire to learn more.

Our AGM will be held on October 23, 2024, and will start at 10am and finish at 1pm. The conference is free to attend and will take place in Millennium Hall (City Hall Eglinton St. entrance). We invite young people across Cork to attend and give it a chance, it’s an opportunity to find like-minded people your age who can help you grow into your beliefs.

If I’ve piqued your interest you can find more information on Comhairle at www.corkcitycomhairlenanog.com which is also where you can sign up for the AGM. If you like what you hear on the day, there will be a very welcoming ‘sign up’ table waiting for you.