Ms Máiréad Coady:

I will speak about the structured dialogue process because I have been involved in it since last October. I stress, however, that is a very rare thing and my friends, let alone every young person in Ireland, do not know what I am doing.

The structured dialogue process is the way the EU gathers opinions and information from young people on youth policies. It is run by the European Commission. I returned last night from a review of the process in Brussels and I have attended two conferences, in Rome and Riga. There are positive aspects of the structured dialogue process, such as bringing everyone together and having a forum to discuss our views on a European level, which has great potential to change the lives and policies for young people, which it tries to do. There is, however, always a “but”; current effectiveness is very questionable. Ireland and Britain are the only two countries sending young people. One sees young people aged 30 and more, who are irrelevant. Ireland is leading on the consultation side compared with other countries. Young voices is our consultation process. It is a quite elitist group as is the content being discussed. We have to challenge views such as young people not being relevant actors in the political process. That was a comment I heard at one of the conferences. There is no diversity in the groups at all.