Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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The purpose of the European Year of Youth, announced by the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen last November, is to strengthen efforts to celebrate, support and engage with young people across the EU, in recognition of the particular impacts that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the opportunities of young people.

In recognition of its existing role in promoting European youth opportunities, I appointed Léargas as Ireland National Coordinator for the Year, with responsibility to implement, co-ordinate and promote activities at national level in close partnership with my Department.

As part of its role, Léargas, working closely with my officials, convened a National Steering Group bringing together key youth stakeholders to support the development and co-ordination of the activities of the European Year of Youth in Ireland. This Steering Group includes a number of youth representatives as well as representatives of the wider youth sector.

The European Year of Youth was officially launched at the Connect with Europe conference, which I was delighted to give an address at. The event showcased how young people can access opportunities in Europe through information and support initiatives like Eurodesk and Youth Wiki. Multiple other events are taking place throughout the year, and across the country, to celebrate the European Year of Youth. For example, my Department were proud to support Léargas’ national youth event ‘All Aboard’, in May. Over 200 young people from different background and counties, came together on a specially chartered train to raise awareness of local, national and European opportunities available to young people in Ireland.

In addition, my Department has provided €200,000 in total to support a European Year of Youth Micro Grants Scheme being managed by Léargas. This brings the total available under the Scheme to €295,000, with the remaining funding provided from the European Commission’s grant and Léargas’ operational budget.

The Micro Grants Scheme is open to youth organisations, local youth and community groups and organised groups of young people in other settings such as schools to apply for funding to carry out activities that support, celebrate, engage and listen to young people and that promote youth opportunities at a local, national and European level, in line with the objectives of the European Year of Youth. Following the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, projects which support or aid the integration of young people from Ukraine have also been included in the Micro Grants scheme.

Micro Grants of between €500 and €5000 are available under this scheme and there are six deadlines over the course of the year to facilitate applications as much as possible. There has been significant demand for funding under the scheme to date, with €160,652 awarded across 66 projects so far and I have been delighted to have this opportunity to support young people from all backgrounds to participate in a range of very worthwhile initiatives.