Dan Neville (Limerick West, Fine Gael)

I am grateful for the opportunity to raise this issue on inequalities for young people, who believe they are seen in a negative light by adults. They see their treatment at the hands of adults as being unequal and unfair, according to a report published on 22 February, Inequality and the Stereotyping of Young People, by the Equality Authority and the National Youth Council of Ireland. Among young people, the research found, there was strong agreement that they were being stereotyped and treated unfairly by adults in general. It found the media were regarded as particularly prone to stereotyping young people in very negative ways by constantly associating youth with crime, deviance, delinquency, drug and alcohol problems, sexual promiscuity and general disorderliness. The predominant view of young people was that politicians dismissed them as being unimportant. There was a view that politicians were both responding to media stereotyping and helping to fuel it. The views of young people as to how their teachers perceived and treated them were mixed. The young people in general felt most strongly about not being listened to and not having a say in how schools were run. They perceived that there was a poor relationship with the Garda and that gardaí had a poor opinion of young people.

There is a need to consult young people on the issues that relate to them and to involve them in decisions. It does not come as a surprise to me that this attitude exists. I have always argued that young people now face pressures that previous generations never knew of. They are coping with many forms of stress and are many are in difficulty because of those pressures. We must examine why young people sometimes feel so alienated from society, from the political system and official religion — even though most young people are very spiritual. Many turn to binge drinking or worse as a response to their feelings of alienation and the spiritual vacuum often present in modern life. This demands a political and a media response. In seeking to find solutions to the problems facing young people, however, we must be sensitive to the possibility of negative stereotyping and seek to avoid it.

Suicide is the chief cause of death in people under 25, and more people die by suicide than in road accidents. We must seriously examine why so many young people in times of unprecedented prosperity are so disenchanted by life that thousands present in accident and emergency departments each year, having attempted to commit suicide. Social change has brought with it many serious challenges. There is the fragmentation of the family allied to an increase in marriage breakdown. Young people believe they have nowhere to turn. Clearly, those who fall out of education are most vulnerable. At the same time many of the cultural icons and authority figures of the past are no longer inspirational in the eyes of the young, such as the church and the political establishment. The report, which the House discussed tonight, makes this clear, too. It is worrying that young people should feel so separated from adults when the role of each generation should be to lead and protect the one that comes after it. It is also of great concern that young people feel demonised by society. As a society, we should seek to understand why. Politically we must demonstrate the will to recognise the equal rights of young people to develop a greater sensitivity to their particular needs.

The report recommends investment in new improved resources for young people at local level. It calls for improved working of school councils and an improved focus on stereotyping of young people on training programmes for the Garda, journalists, teachers and security staff in shopping centres. The report also recommends the establishment and monitoring of standards by the proposed press council and the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland, as regards media coverage of young people.

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