Ms Heidi Dowling:

I want to talk to the committee today about public spaces for young people in Carlow town. There is a lack of places for young people and teenagers to go in Carlow town. For a town with so many young people, there are not a lot of public facilities for them. A skate park is good if you are a skateboarder, but if you are not, it can get boring pretty quickly. There are loads of campaigns telling young people to get outside, be active and exercise, mind their mental health and spend time with friends. It would be great if we could make these things happen by giving us the facilities to do them. Sports clubs can be good but do not suit everybody either. There are plenty of spaces around Carlow, acres of land that are not being used at all. It just seems a bit of a waste to me. Maybe it could be used to make more outdoor spaces for people to enjoy.

Some of the images on the screen are from public areas and parks around Europe. We found them online and saw some designs we liked. The small ones are called pocket parks. These are great examples of indoor spaces for young people to use. We have a good youth club on Burren Street but there are very few other public indoor spaces for young people in Carlow town. The library can have good things on but it is not a great space for socialising. It would be great if one of the many derelict buildings in the town could be used as somewhere young people could spend time. Public spaces for children, both indoor and outdoor, are nearly always aimed at very young children and not teenagers.

These images on screen show two of Carlow's parks. These are great and amazing parks, especially the one on the right, Hanover Park. Hanover Park has been recently redeveloped and I think it is a step in the right direction. It is bright and open with cool seating areas where I can spend time with my friends. There should be way more things for kids our age.

We are not short of space in Carlow town but the way we use it could be a lot better. The town park could have a lot more areas rather than huge expanses of grass. The hills in the centre are cool but more seating areas all over the park would be cool, not just regular benches. Again, most of them are aimed at younger kids rather than kids our age. The equipment is safe and probably lots of fun when you are five years old but it is a bit boring for us. We will not be able to move around and be active. I do not think that can really happen with some slides and swings.

Lots of kids, especially girls, drop sport and other activities when they get to secondary school. A research report called Adolescent Girls Get Active came out last year. It found there is a lack of social spaces for teens where they feel welcome, wanted and included. They feel there are limited opportunities to try to learn new things and skills and ultimately feel good about themselves. Loads of girls quit sport completely between the ages of 13 and 15. Maybe some of the people on the committee might be able to relate to this, either about themselves, friends or family. The report states that the feeling of not being good enough is the main thing that makes them give up. However, girls have the right to exercise and be involved in physical activity. This is where our public representatives may provide the space to allow this huge percentage of girls to keep enjoying themselves and be physically active. I thank the members for their time and for listening to our presentation.