TeenCamp Ireland

There is a name and a website and a registartion form! What are you still doing here? Get over there and sign up!

But well done to @endac and @designneverdies and who ever else is helping out!

Youth Tech Event - The Yewt Meetup

@Endac and others are organising a Youth Tech event and want ideas and stuff! take a pop over to contrar.ie and give some!

Also spread the word!

Update: Alan is also helping to organise it so tell him your ideas too!

Hanafin’s bluff won’t disguise educational psychological services mess – Enright

51% of primary schools still not covered by NEPS
When will target for educational psychologists - set in 1999 - be met?

Olwyn Enright TD, Fine Gael Spokesperson on Education and Science has today (Thursday) said that Minister Mary Hanafin cannot bluff her way out of the current mess surrounding access to educational psychological services for children and young people.

'Speaking on RTE Morning Ireland today, Minister Mary Hanafin stated that Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats are constantly expanding the services offered by the National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS). In many homes, this statement will have been greeted with a hollow laugh.

'Between February 2005 and December 2006, the number of primary schools without access to the National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) increased by 160. Information released to me by the Department of Education and Science confirms that whilst 1,522 primary schools were not covered by NEPS in February 2005, this figure was up to 1,682 schools last month.

'In her latest damage limitation exercise, the Minister has also announced the recruitment this year of an additional 31 educational psychologists. This means that by 2008 the target of 184 educational psychologists needed by NEPS - which was set in 1999 and should have been met by 2004 - will still be little more than a 'noble aspiration', an increasingly apt phrase when looking at this Government's record in education.

'With considerable understatement, Minister Hanafin did concede that not every school in the country was covered by NEPS - well, that's one way of acknowledging that 51% of primary schools are still outside the system, eights years after it was first established.

'Minister Hanafin is still just playing 'catch-up' on this issue, and has not even begun to consider the demands that are coming down the track for Ireland's education system. Department of Education figures show that the number of children in primary education will increase by at least 58,000, but where is the planning now to ensure that these children will have access to a proper, working service by the time they are in the system?

'Minister Hanafin also referred - repeatedly - to the scheme for commissioning private psychological assessments which is available to schools. She did not acknowledge, though she knows full well, that many schools have far more students who require assessment than they are allowed to commission privately. The scheme for commissioning private assessments is in no way an alternative to the full roll out of NEPS services.

'Finally, Minister Hanafin seemed to suggest that the St Vincent de Paul charity were in some way misguided in spending their money commissioning psychological assessments for children from disadvantaged backgrounds. The St Vincent de Paul can certainly speak for themselves, but given the facts - the appalling access to the service, the considerable regional imbalances in access to NEPS, and the restrictions on the number of private assessments that can be commissioned - I believe that the Minister is on thin ice here as well.'

Jingle Bell Bopp! @ Filmbase, 21st December, 8pm

Under 18s Lesbian Gay Bi & Trans D.I.S.C.O.




BeLonG To Youth Project brings you Dublin’s only under 18’s LGBT club night - returning for its fifth and bestest Bopp!

Doors €5. Open at 8pm at Filmbase, Curved Street, Temple Bar.



Expect fabulous frolics, pretty performers, elfish excitement, and a Rockin Robin inspired disco.



Everyone is welcome, so spread the word and bring your straight friends and your neighbour’s reindeer.

BeLonG To Youth Project works with Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender (LGBT) young people in Ireland. It supports and resources them to actively participate in the world around them, and provides them with a space where they can experience inclusion, acceptance, social justice, fun and safety.

BeLonG To meets every Sunday (for LGBT youth aged 14-23): 3.30 - 6pm

PSA's and stuff on youtube

Public Service Announcement by Erase The Hate National Organization. PLEASE NOTE: Some of the images contained in this PSA may be too graphic for some people. Viewer Discretion is Advised.




ILGA Adoption Ad




Amercanized version of a popular Nowegian Ad about LGBT Youth



Absolute Cut Ad

Continued: What will you ask the politicians that knock on your door?

Continued: What will you ask the politicians that knock on your door?

Here are more responses

Frank O'Regan, Cork:

1. Why are the government actively trying to create unemployment in the Fermoy region with risk equalisation, It is anti competitive

2. What are your plans for the radical overhall of the Health Servie to get it working properly, there are too many administration jobs and not enough doctors and nurses

3. The rights of the victim needs to be reasserted, a criminal should not have any rights and it should be remembers that they are in prison for commiting a crime and prison should refelct this. Enforcement and longer minimum terms are required.

4. There needs to be a defined and sustained investment in our roads infastructure.

5. There needs to be an overhall of the motor tax system and motor tax should be charged on the Petrol so the more you drive the more you pay, not on the size of your engine.

Laura O'Connor, Cork:

1. What is their policy on bulling in schools? And do they think the department of education guidelines are sufficient to cope with the increasing level of bullying in Ireland today?

2. Health system-There needs to be more accountability from consultants, doctors and nurses for the care, diagnosis etc of their patients. What reforms would your party make?

3. Nursing homes-the cost. How would they bring it down?

4. Boy racers, drink driving etc. Its becoming a ridiculous problem in Ireland, harsher measures need to be enforced. What would you prop to do?

Teens in bid to reduce number of Belfast suicides

Two Belfast teenagers are at the centre of a new bid to cut the city’s suicide rates from 150 a year, it emerged today.

Caitlín Ní Cathail and Paul McCann have become the youngest team ever to be trained in internationally renowned techniques to recognise the symptoms before it’s too late.

The pair attended a conference in Newfoundland, Canada, to partake in Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST).

The initiative, developed over 23 years, involves a first-aid process to detect any warning signs and intervene.

Mr McCann, 19, a student from west Belfast’s Lower Falls, said: “It’s to help recognise the basic concept of suicide and symptoms such as stress and giving away possessions and act on them.

“We see ourselves as care workers trying to pull people out of the river of suicide.”

Mr McCann and Ms Ní Cathail, both 18, from Ballymurphy, west Belfast, work with Belfast City Council’s Youth Forum, where they are teaching colleagues about what can be done to protect those at risk.

They are also planning to run a course for staff working in the community and team up with the Samaritans to put on a play at City Hall in December to raise awareness of the difficulties facing some of the most vulnerable at Christmas.

“We would like as many people as possible to come along,” said Mr McCann.

“Suicide is something people find hard to talk about, but we need to start looking closely at what we can do to intervene before it happens.”

He added: “The Youth Forum has identified suicide as a major area of concern and has drawn up a strategy to help tackle it.

“We aim to raise awareness among as many people as possible, highlighting the effects suicide has on our community.

“There is often a great stigma or taboo around suicide which may prevent people reaching out for help.

“However, they often give involuntary signals that they are thinking about it and if we can pick these up we can apply first aid until the necessary help is forthcoming. In this way ASIST is proven to work and it helps save lives.”

Source: BreakingNews.ie

Continued: What will you ask the politicians that knock on your door?

Continued: What will you ask the politicians that knock on your door?

Bryan Lynch, Cork:

Will your party work to repeal the racist Irish Nationality Law which came into effect on January 1st 2005?

Will your party reverse the general trend of supporting sickeningly populist policies on immigration?

Will your party provide more funding for third level education?

Will your party consider developing a service to provide free health care similar to that of the British NHS?

Will your party take the lead in purging the following from our society: racists, homophobes, Euro-skeptics and Fenians, in order to make The Republic of Ireland a much nicer place to live?

What will you ask the politicians that knock on your door?

I asked a few friends to compile a short list and this what i got so far! (mine is at the end). I will post up others as soon as i get them

Seamas De Faoite, Dublin:

1. Will you listen to young people
2. Will you get The Americans out of shannon
3. Will you look-after local schools
4. Will you work with other politicians
5. Will you work hard to defeat anti-social behaviour

Samuel Bowman, Cork:

1) Would you be supportive of the American use of Shannon airport and the broader war on terror (I will be looking for a yes, and if any candidate impressed me with a huge support for America I'd vote for them regardless of any other factors)
2) Would you cut taxes, and if so, which ones? (I will be looking for a pledge to reduce corporation tax and the upper rate of income tax as well as the abolition of stamp duty and capital gains tax)
3) Would you support the introduction of ASBOs? (I'll want a yes here, the tougher the better except on drugs issues)
4) Would you ever be prepared to go into government with Sinn Féin? (if yes, I'll slam the door in their face)
5) Would you support the introduction of civil partnerships for homosexuals with equal parenting and adoption rights for homosexual couples? (I will want a yes here, particularly on the parenting issue)

Stephen Spillane, me!!!, Cork:

1. What will you do to tackle the huge problem with mental health services, particularly with the issue of youth suicide?
2. Will you work ensure that Cork Airport is kept competive by making sure it is dept free?
3. What are tyour piorities if you are elected?
4. What transport intiatives do you support for Cork?
5. Do you think Cork as been neglected by the current Government and how will you address this?

Keep an eye for more to come!

CIE Fare Increase – Tip of Rip off Ireland iceberg: Young FG

This weekend’s call by CIE for an increase of 9% in fares for bus, Dart and rail users has been slammed by Young Fine Gael President, Elizabeth Munnelly, as a “cynical and self serving attempt to rip off young Irish people”.

“This fare hike is completely unwarranted and unreasonable and will penalise thousands of young people who use public transport.

“Third level students are particularly vulnerable to this fare increase. It comes at a time when they face increased accommodation costs and an escalating cost of living. Mainline and Commuter Rail together with Dublin Bus are the most popular means of transport for young people, it will be impossible for young people to avoid being hit in the pocket as a result.

“The proposed fare hike is particularly hard to accept coming as it does at a time when international fuel prices are down by about 10% and is hard to justify when this current Government’s Transport 21 strategy is already running behind schedule”, added Munnelly.

“Young people have been crucified with stealth taxation and soaring prices in the lifetime of this government. The government is fuelling inflation and has increased prices in sectors which it has responsibility for by a rate of 52% over the last five years. The proposed CIE fare hike represents the latest tip of the Rip Off Ireland iceberg” added Munnelly,

McHugh calls for nationwide study of youth work needs

Fine Gael Donegal North East Senator Joe has called for a nationwide assessment of youth work needs, embracing every town and village, because large areas of the country still do not have a dedicated youth work programme.

Senator McHugh said this is the right time for an assessment because of the appointment of a national Youth Work Assessor, Conor Rowley.

“I very much welcome the appointment of Conor Rowley and hope that this new position will finally bring about much-needed developments in the provision of youth work programmes. It is regrettable that the Government took five years to make this appointment, which was provided for in the 2001 Youth Work Act.

“As a former youth worker myself, it is clear to me that this is a good opportunity to revitalise youth work services throughout the country and extend them to new areas. This will have to involve investment in new services and facilities, and particularly in new youth workers.

“The next step should be to commission local VECs to determine the sort of youth work services that are needed in their area. This assessment should consider every town, village and townland because large areas still have no access to youth work programmes at all.

“However, it is vital that any new programmes are set up on a permanent basis. The pilot programmes have been run and lessons have been learned, and what we need now is investment. For example, a number of peace and reconciliation programmes in Donegal which have been very successful are now being wound down.

“I have high hopes for the appointment of the new Youth Work Assessor, and would hope that it does not become yet another bureaucratic layer. The needs of our young people must be paramount, and the real work starts now. It’s time for the profile of the youth work sector to be raised, and for it to leave behind its Cinderella image.”