Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak in this very important debate. I thank the Independent Senators for putting the motion to the House. I welcome the young people who are in the Gallery. I thank them for being here, not just to listen to the debate on the motion before us but perhaps to engage with many of us after. This is an important motion. As somebody who has been involved in education all of my life as a teacher and as a GAA activist, at 55 I think I am still young. I still think I am relatively in touch with young people. Recognising in this debate that we have significant challenges in a post-Covid world, we may need to reconsider how we as a society and a country engage with young people.

I listened to the contributions of Senators Hoey and Clonan. I recognise particularly in the disability sector that many disabled people - both young and old - feel not just marginalised but feel they have not been listened to at all for a long time. That is a fault of society and of Governments for generations. We need to look at that.

We have a starting point for the strategy for the participation of children and young people in the decision-making process. Government should look to the citizens' assembly, the Convention of the Constitution, as a model for that young people's forum.Former Deputy Katherine Zappone, when she was the Minister with responsibility for children, had a young person's LGBT strategy. I was struck by the number and quality of engagements with young people who were willing to participate and, in fact, rushed to do so.

Understandably, there are challenges we must work on, and they have been articulated. We must overcome those challenges. The Government must recognise the importance of young people being able to buy their own homes or rent homes at a good price. We must provide a quality environment for them to live in and quality education. To be fair to the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Innovation, Research and Science, Deputy Harris, he is recognising the apprenticeship model. As a teacher myself, I recognise that the leaving certificate is not for everybody. The applied leaving certificate is available, as it should be, and is being used as a career pathway by many young people. We in this House should support that. I have spoken about that issue many times.

It is important to recognise that we will have divergent views on this motion. I believe we live in a great country. It is the best in the world. People may smile when I say that and disagree, which is fine, but we do live in a great country.