YOUTH ISSUES IN FOCUS

ISSUES facing young people growing up in County Wexford in 2018 was the topic up for discussion at the Riverside Park Hotel recently as it hosted a youth participation event from Wexford Children and Young People’s Services Committee (CYPSC).

A collaborative event, it saw young people from all over the county given a platform to speak about issues that are important to them, such as youth mental health, LGBTI issues, dealing with illness and the importance of music.

A number of keynote speakers also took the floor on the day, including John Dwyer of ‘Let’s B Safe’, who talked about cyber security, Deborah Somorin from Focus Ireland, who spoke on homelessness and teen parenthood, Vanessa Lacey of TENI speaking on transgender issues, and Kevin Akpaloo and Nenji Benstowe of the National Youth Council of Ireland, who spoke about migration.

‘When encouraged, young people can express themselves very well and can be part of the solution in the issues they face,’ said Sarah O’Connor, Training and Development Officer for Tusla, who also attended the event. ‘Young people are very accepting of difference and we can all learn from this. Ireland is moving forward in so many ways and new communities, cultural identities, gender identities, all create a new vision of hope for the future.’

Wexford CYPSC thanked everyone who was involved in the organisation of this event, particularly the young people who contributed. A special thanks was extended to the keynote speakers.

The FDYS Coolcoots group.

Enniscorthy: Alex Petrovics, Matthew Colgan, Skye Turner, Leah Sludds, Mia Murphy, Emmett Lawlor and Sinéad Roche.

Sam Walsh, Eire Molloy, Ryan Kirby and Leah Sludds.

The Bridgetown group: Catherine McCurdy, Conor Smyth, Des Lynch, and Matthew Phillips.

Kellie Wall, Kayla Murray and Shakira Flanagan from FDYS New Ross.

The Ferrybank group: Molly O’Neill, Cleo Moore and Rhianna Foley-McGuire.

Sarah Foley, Ryan Kirby and Rachel O’Donnell from New Ross.

Hannah Cullimore.