Jack Wall (Kildare South, Labour)

I thank my colleague, Deputy Sherlock, for allowing me a number of minutes of his time to speak on this very important motion. It is disappointing, however, that it is just a motion and no action is promised in relation to it.

As the Labour Party's spokesman on community and rural affairs, I want to back the call by the National Youth Council of Ireland, which appeals to all parties to commit to the setting up and funding of a national youth participation programme. The objective is to support and promote greater participation, active citizenship and volunteering among young people, with specific emphasis on those aged 18 to 25. Recently, in reply to a parliamentary question submitted to the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, I was told that according to the most recent report from the ESRI, volunteering was up from 17.1% in 2002 to 23.1% in 2006. Active community involvement, according to the same report, was up from 21.7% to 29% in the same period.

As one who lives in a rural constituency, while I welcome these figures I doubt their authenticity. It is not apparent to me on the ground that the figures are relevant to rural Ireland. While I welcome the trends indicated, the figures leave much to be desired for the ordinary person on the street who comes to me on a regular basis with their problems. Thus, while welcoming the figures, with reservations, we must recognise the call from the NYCI to set up a programme to support active citizenship and volunteering among the younger population. The youth are our future volunteers and although one cannot force any individual to become actively involved, we must ensure every effort is made to create the conditions for young people to participate in community life. In talking to local youth groups I know they experience problems in getting young people to become youth leaders, especially in the 18 to 30 age bracket. The pace of life in modern Ireland is not helping. Young people have to travel long distances for work or college and find it difficult to get the time, resources and energy to commit to youth leadership. This is unfortunate, and very serious. If we cannot get persons in the 18 to 30 age group to commit in large numbers to become leaders, we are widening the age gap between leaders and those in the age bracket 12 to 18.

The time has come to act, bearing this in mind. I agree with the NYCI that a sustained effort is crucial to attract young people as volunteers. We must look at how people who volunteer are treated and question why they become involved. Hopefully, this will lead to a programme to encourage others. The time to act is now. We cannot any longer do without such a programme. I ask that the potential for a programme of this type be investigated by the relevant Minister and that initiatives are put in place to address this vital issue.

Another major concern is mental health and suicide prevention. A major concern among the entire population is the rate of suicide among the young. Ireland has the fifth highest rate of suicide in Europe for the 14 to 24 age group, a frightening statistic. The highest frequency is to be found among young men in the 20 to 29 year old age group. Mental health problems and disorders such as depression and substance misuse are associated with 90% of all suicide cases. This is one of the issues I have argued with relevant Ministers as regards the provision of facilities. We have seen wonderful work done through the capital sports programme in relation to arts, sport and tourism, but we must move the goalposts and ensure such facilities have permanent staff that can engage with the major housing developments. We must ensure they know and are involved in what is going on and we should not cherrypick in terms of those big estates. Rather, we should pick the best people from them to become involved in the sports area because that is one of the major problems we have. We must go right across the spectrum towards ensuring that every child in these enormous estates, without facilities, is cared for.

I want to highlight the situation whereby planning authorities allow developers to minimise the green areas on such estates without maximising their efficiency or ability to provide for the youngsters who must live there. Developers give the local authority the worst land in the estate, situated in the most awkward place possible, and nothing can be done to turn it into a facility that is usable, presentable and of benefit to the people living there. I ask the Minister of State, through his offices and those of the mover of the motion, to ensure something is done in this regard. Thought and dedication must be put into ensuring green spaces are not located in the wrong places in estates and of no benefit to the young for whom they should be of major significance as regards the provision of user-friendly facilities as a buffer against anti-social behaviour.

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