Ms Danielle Gayson:

I thank the committee for this opportunity to speak. Máiréad Coady, Rebecca Lambe and I are here to represent Youth Work Ireland. Generally, young people could not care less about the EU. In school, we learn that there are 28 member states but that is about all we learn. It is covered under Civic, Social and Political Education, CSPE, but only ad hoc. Some people have a lot of knowledge if they have an interest in politics but that depends on the person and not everyone will have the same knowledge of the EU. The teaching of the subject varies from school to school. There is no consistent training in the teaching of the topic. The language used in all EU promotional materials and policies is very inaccessible. For example, what are “synergies”, or even something as simple as MEP? Many do not even know what MEP means, let alone who are the MEPs.

There are two areas of EU youth strategy which are very relevant to the lives of young people in Ireland today, the structured dialogue process and youth exchanges. As we have direct involvement with this, the focus of our presentation today will be on these two areas.