Ms Lorraine Gilligan:

I will not repeat much of what has been said about how youth work is serious in its approach to really engaging different communities. It is really important to acknowledge that although it is challenging to handle a European year of youth so quickly, I feel much appreciation to the Commission for moving so fast to respond to the crisis that young people are in and, I suppose, the evidence that young people have been so severely affected by Covid-19. If it had been planned for two more years, other experiences would have to come into play. With the optimism in Léargas as we try to approach being the national co-ordinator for the European year, we have it now and the initiative is a response to a specific experience that young people have been exposed to.

There are priorities attached to the year and I can provide those in follow-up communications. They are in our submission documents if the committee wants to refer to them but I will not go into them now. There is a strategy for us as a national co-ordinator for the year in terms of legacy. As Ms Grainger said, we are not starting with an agenda for what this year will achieve. We have our steering group and our outreach activities. We want to provide the space for the kinds of messages that young people are prioritising to become the legacy. It would be fantastic if this committee could remain engaged and we can follow up or check in with it in six months and let it know where things are at and the messages coming through. It would help to focus some other policy areas that are under review.

Our colleagues in the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth have been very active and supportive in helping us convene a steering committee and get people on board. I feel we have a very good representative group of people that can help us achieve the best we can with the year and the investment that comes along with it.