Mr. Mark O'Brien:

I thank the assembled committee members and the Cathaoirleach, Deputy Funchion, for inviting us here today so that the children in our school can address them on their experience of being a young person in Carlow.

As people who are living in and around Carlow town, our class decided to do some action research on what elements of our town and built environment work well for our children and teenagers. We did some walking and cycling tours of the town's streets and parks, and looked at how accessible it is to get around as a young person. We looked at our shared public spaces and at our streetscape and built environment. The children recorded their thoughts and opinions over several weeks and they discussed ways in which they felt our town could make changes to better serve them. We researched our ideas online and looked at how cities and towns both in Ireland and abroad approached some of these issues and the solutions they came up with. The children thought about how these solutions might be applied in Carlow town to better serve its young people.

We have a lot of initiatives in our school which aim to make it a better place to be for our students, our wider community and the wider world. We have green flags, active flags, healthy eating policies, well-being policies and biodiversity goals. I am sure we are not alone as a school in that regard. Many other schools have similar ideals and goals. However, there is a growing perception among our staff and students that the aspirational thinking and initiatives seem to end at the school gate. There is a sense that the values and ideals that we are trying to impart to the children do not count for much in the real world. We teach about sustainable travel and reducing carbon emissions. However, our small town is choked with traffic which seems to worsen by the year. We teach about exercise and the importance of being outdoors. However, many of our children cannot walk safely to school, GAA training or any other after-school activity due to the lack of pedestrian crossings and poor infrastructure in the town. We teach about the climate and biodiversity crisis and despite the ambition in some town plans, the children are noticing the lack of tangible action in Carlow.

Along with the practical ideas for change the committee is going to hear from the children, this is also a very timely lesson in participatory practice and showing the kids how important it is to exercise their voices. The young people of Carlow make up nearly one third of our population, which is a sizable cohort. Our elected representatives and politicians who help to shape policy and plans for the town have a responsibility to listen to these children. It is important for us as a town to include all of our citizens when making decisions.

We first gave a version of this presentation in VISUAL Carlow to two of our local Deputies, members of Carlow County Council, the environmental officer, engineers, the architect and planners of Carlow town. We invited Ms Muireann Ranta, a lecturer from the South East Technical University who specialises in children's rights, to address the assembled adults and stakeholders about how best we can facilitate the inclusion of young people’s opinions. I would like to paraphrase some of her thought-provoking speech here. I ask the committee to bear in mind their listening responsibilities as duty bearers under the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child. Ms Ranta spoke about the Lundy model of child rights-based participation, which has been influential in public policy in Ireland. Lundy talks about the four essential elements of space, voice, audience and influence which are necessary for children to fully enjoy their right to participation. If we look at that in today’s context, we can see that a space has been created where the children are being given an opportunity to voice their views. We can also see there is an audience here to listen to those views. However, Ms Ranta explained that the research shows that children involved in these types of spaces continue to express their disappointment that despite their hard work and time researching and putting forward their informed views, there is a feeling that the influence part of the Lundy model is not apparent when decisions are being made about the spaces in which children live. In short, we, as adults, need to respect and value children’s opinions as rights holders in our society.

I would now like to welcome the children to talk to the members of the committee and the Cathaoirleach about their work. We decided to categorise our research into five areas - active travel, shared public spaces, our natural environment, art and design of public spaces and prioritising people. Zena, Heidi, Aidan, Dulcie and Grace will talk about their research and their findings. They and some of the other children present would be very happy to answer any questions from the members of the committee after their presentations.