The delegates discussed two main topics; Educational Reform and Mental Health for Young People and were then given the opportunity to put questions to Children’s Minister Brendan Smith.

“There was a lot of discussion on the day about issues affecting young people however it was during the questions and answers session that the real voice of the youth of Ireland was heard”, says Chloë Hitchcock, chairwoman of the Kil-kenny group. “Dele-gates were very unhappy that Brendan Smith could not stay long enough to answer many questions or to listen to what we had to say”.

The Kilkenny group was also disappointed that the issue of the Leaving Certificate points system was addressed again this year as a key issue when this had already been a major topic for discussion at Dáil na nÓg a number of years previously.

“I wanted a commitment from the panel and politicians present that Dáil na nÓg was not just a tokenistic exercise by politicians to say they listened to the voice of young people but then abandon our views”, says Chloë. “I feel it is ridiculous that the same motions are being passed nearly four years after I started in Voice 4 Youth. Imagine the amount of change that could have taken place for young people across Ireland in that length of time”?

Chloë Hitchcock’s address on this issue at the conference was echoed by her peers who went on to support her views and demand change. Kilkenny’s Voice 4 Youth now hope that the Dáil na nÓg Advisory Council voted in on the day will be given more power to make change on the outcome of the conference.

Voice 4 You[th] is a youth forum set up “to speak, to listen and to make a difference”. It is facilitated by Ossory Youth and meets at least once a week to work on projects in youth space ‘The Workhouse’ at Desart Hall, New Street, Kilkenny. They also organise and run Kilkenny’s annual Comhairle Na NÓg and are currently in the process of establishing a fully resourced youth council for Kilkenny, the first in the South of Ireland.