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Swords boy leads protest

Thursday, 21 August 2008

A TWELVE-year-old boy from Swords, aged just 12, helped to organise a protest outside the Minister for Children’s office, last week to highlight the need for more communication with young people on issues that affect them.
Karl O’Brien is a member of the Swords Youth Council, a recently formed group that is hoping to provide a constructive voice to young people in their community.
The group was established last March and comprises students from the four secondary schools in the Fingal town. They have since vowed to put pressure on authorities to provide appropriate facilities for teenagers in the area.
They marched from the Garden of Remembrance to the Minister Barry Andrews’s office on Hawkins Street to protest against the department’s policy of only meeting with youth groups once a year.
“The idea for the protest started when we emailed the minister to arrange a meeting and we felt his reply just wasn’t satisfactory,” Karl told Northside People.
“We decided we would hold a protest outside the department to get their attention.
“While we were there, some civil servants came out to listen to us and told us that the minister was on holidays.”

A leaflet handed out by the protestors outlined that for young people to effectively tackle issues alongside politicians, Dáil na nOg must run for more than one day a year.
It also called for Minister Andrews to arrange a meeting with the leaders of the National Youth Organisation.
The group believes it was successful in achieving this and is hoping to hold a meeting with the minister in the coming months.
A spokesperson for the Minister for Children told Northside People that as Minister Andrews was away, they were unable to confirm if he would be meeting with the group but said the request will be passed on.
Swords Youth Council is closely linked to other youth organisations like Dáil na nÓg (youth parliament) and the National Youth Council.
Together these groups work to provide a voice for young people and raise issues with the Government.
“While we were protesting someone suggested to us that we would be better off joining political party youth wings and changing things that way,” Karl stated.
“I think this misses the point of groups like ours. “We are here to help directly with any issues affecting young people in Swords.”
Karl will be attending Colaiste Choilm in September having just finished at St Cronan’s Junior National School.
Despite his youth, he has high expectations for the group and expects to launch some serious campaigns in the coming months.
“We are organising a poster campaign around suicide and bullying for the start of the new school term,” he added.
“If you would like to get involved with Swords Youth Council or find out more information visit,
www.swordsyouthcouncil.com

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