Ms Cliona O'Neill:

I will. My name is Cliona O'Neill. With me are Ms Danielle Gayson and Ms Amy Maher. We are from the Tipperary Regional Youth Service. I will provide the committee with some background information on our organisation.

The Tipperary Regional Youth Service, which is affiliated to Youth Work Ireland, is an integrated youth service that works with young people aged between eight and 25 years of age. The mission of the youth service is to provide a range of quality and professional services to young people in a safe and inclusive environment, contributing to a changing society for the benefit of young people. Geographically, there are three regions under the remit of the Tipperary Regional Youth Service, those being, Tipperary south, Tipperary north and east Limerick, with four youth centres in Cashel, Templemore, Thurles and Tipperary. We deliver youth projects and services funded in the main through the Department of Children and Youth Affairs, the HSE and the Departments of Justice and Equality and Social Protection. Our services include working with disadvantaged young people, providing targeted interventions in the areas of justice, substance misuse and family support and supporting volunteer-led clubs and community initiatives.

The Tipperary Regional Youth Service has a voluntary board of directors holding overall responsibility for the organisation, working through the chief executive officer, staff and volunteers. This board is made up of local club and community representatives with an interest in youth participation.

One of our centres is the Cashel neighbourhood youth project, which has been in existence since the mid-1990s and has a high level of youth participation. There are a number of youth-led initiatives that members of the project participate in and this is the project of which we are members.

I will hand over to Ms Gayson, who is going to tell the committee a little bit about what we have been doing to help prevent young people from smoking.