Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for her advocacy on these issues. There are very tangible examples of the youth participation framework acting to influence Government policy. When the climate action plan was being drafted, there was a youth participation strand to get the views of young people on that issue. Similarly, the youth justice policy launched in 2020 is absolutely essential with regard to its application to young people and, again, young people were consulted on the content. To give a very practical example, as the Deputy will know, a new youth travel pass was announced in this year's budget to give a 50% reduction in fares for young people aged between 17 and 23. That was a result of advocacy from Comhairle na nÓg, whose national executive had agreed that would be its policy proposal. It engaged with me and I engaged with the Minister for Transport, Deputy Eamon Ryan, and we brought forward that really positive policy initiative. That is another example of youth participation in action.

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