What children and young people have to say

• ‘Self-harm is an important issue for young people under 18.’
-Group of young people

• ‘Praise children more that they are good at sport even if they’re not. Most children don’t [do sport] because they’re overweight and they don’t get praised.’
-14 year old girl, Mayo

• ‘Health is important and people need to have access to health services. It would be good to have a health centre in our village. We need the Ennis Regional Hospital to be like Limerick, Galway and Dublin.’
-Group of boys and girls, Clare

• ‘There are good things about being cared for in this hospital; the nurses are nice, the place is warm, the food is good and nice, the service is good, and the nurses and doctors look after you. Ways of making it better…. having more parking spaces at the hospital, having all-day visiting hours, having different wards for different age groups, having fans in the wards and having your own room.’
-Young boy, Dublin 

• ‘I believe in an education system that will produce people who will cope with living and working in the real world.’
-16 year old girl, Wicklow

• ‘There should be free secondary education for every child so that every child can keep going to school. Education is hard to afford for some children and their families and so they might not finish their education.’
-Group of young people, Laois

• ‘Young people aren’t being treated like they should, especially in school. I feel as if my rights are being violated and other students feel the same. We don’t get a chance to talk to teachers about stuff that matters.’
-16 year old boy, Dublin

• ‘We have a mediocre education system in Ireland.’
-17 year old boy, Wicklow

• ‘We have a homework club after school which is really important and it helps us.’
-13 year old girl, Donegal

 
• ‘It would be good to have better school tours.’
-Group of boys and girls, Dublin

• ‘We are not happy with our small bus…some of the seatbelts are broken…We would like a bigger school car park.’
-Group of girls and boys, Clare

• ‘More up to date science labs and kitchens in schools.’
- Post-primary student, Dublin

• ‘The Green Flag initiative is good.’
-Group of primary school children, Dublin

• ‘It’s good that there are schools in the area and so close to where children and young people live.’
-Group of boys and girls, Dublin

• ‘We’d like to change the school uniform – either have none or have a summer and a winter uniform so we’re more comfortable.’
-Group of girls and boys, Clare

• ‘We love our school. Some of the things that make our school a happy place are ‘golden time’; playing inside near home time on Friday; art and painting; p.e.; showtime on Friday; singing; lunchtime and playing football, games and skipping outside.’
-Group of primary school children, Dublin

• ‘There should be a team of translators at key points around the country; even if it would cost some money, it would make a big difference to lots of schools.’
- Post-primary student, Dublin

• ‘There are too many people in one class.’
- Post-primary student, Dublin

• ‘I left school when I was 13. I should have stayed. I’m doing my Junior Cert now instead.’
-Young Traveller, Dublin

• ‘Children with special needs should have the right to education because they need education and there aren’t teachers to teach them.’
-Group of girls, Dublin

• ‘Some young people don’t get the help they need with reading.’
-13 year old boy, Dublin

• ‘It’s important to support children with the challenges associated with making the transition from primary to post-primary school.’
-Group of girls, Cork

• ‘Why is it after 13 years of schooling one examination determines the rest of your life? If something dramatic happens in this period of time there is no allowance made’.
-17 year old girl, Waterford

• ‘Sex education needs to be provided at post-primary level. Young people may not feel comfortable talking about issues like contraception and STDs with their parents and it is difficult to access information and support by other routes if you are living in a rural community. Sex education at post-primary level would help provide young people with the information they need to make safe choices and decisions’ -Group of girls, Cork

• ‘The education system should be updated to include a ‘life class’ teaching children and young people about everything from intercourse to drugs to depression’.
-17 year old girl, Cork

• ‘We think we should have a chance to free education. If a student needs a grind they should be able to get it in school for free. Student should have to wear a uniform because it is not a fashion show. we shouldn’t worry about hair and make up because we should just get down to learning’
-14 year old girls, Dublin

• ‘We think bullying is a major issue for young people.’
-Group of young people

• ‘I think there should be a class every week on how to deal with bullying. I think there should be more teachers on school grounds.’
-14 year old girl, Mayo

• ‘Teachers and parents don’t understand how damaging things like bullying are … [W]ithout teachers’, parents’ and students’ help, bullying will always continue’.
-13 year old girl, Dublin

• ‘Just because laws are there it doesn’t mean they work – I was bullied at school even though the school had an anti-bullying policy – they just never did anything they said they were supposed to’.
-14 year old boy, Dublin

• ‘I want more police presence in the area to monitor the lads and girls who are hanging around. A lot of residents are scared of living in the blocks where we live, and if the police would come around more often it would make the place safer.’
-14 year old girl

• ‘It’s good that a new garda station is being built in our local community’.
-Group of boys and girls, Dublin

• ‘I want less robberies near my house’.
-Young person, Clare

• ‘Children and young people should have the right to have a voice and be heard in court proceedings affecting them because you should have the right to speak up for yourself’.
-Group of girls, Dublin

• ‘There are people using drugs around where I live. It’s not safe for children’.
-12 year old girl, Dublin

• ‘Children have the right to be safe from drugs because you can die from them’.
-Group of girls, Dublin

Consultation with children and young people on child-friendly justice

As part of its programme Building a Europe for and with Children, the Council of Europe is developing guidelines on child-friendly justice. The Council of Europe has begun a consultation to enable children to contribute their views to the development of these guidelines. During February and March 2010, the OCO facilitated four groups of young people living in Ireland to participate in this Council of Europe consultation. To find out what the young people had to say take a look at the report below,

Consultation with children on child-friendly justice

• ‘I really support the idea of making us have a chance for our voices to be heard. If it was not for this nobody can understand when they see children walking down the roads of life and the difficulties that they face or the kind of lifestyles they have lived. A voice of a child being heard is important because it will shape up the long walk to success and it will create the good leaders of tomorrow’.
-17 year old girl

• ‘It’s stupid the way young adults don’t have ANY say in the world until they are 18’.
-17 year old girl

• ‘We don’t have enough say in our rights’.
-13 year old girl

• ‘We think the right to express our own opinions and make our own decisions is important because everyone wants to be heard and doesn’t want people talking for them. And it’s for us and we know what’s best for us and not adults’.
-Group of 16 and 17 year old girls

• ‘Children and young people should have the right to present their views to the Dáil. TDs don’t understand the views of young people.’
-Group of 14 year old boys, Dublin

• ‘They don’t ask for your opinions and there is no meeting to talk to the young people about things that they would like’.
-16 year old separated young person, Dublin

• ‘Children can do lots of things to help each other; take part in a group like a student council, cooperate, be kind, respect each other, give everyone a chance to take part and say what they think, try to understand each other, have fun together in the group, etc’’.
-Group of 8-13 year old girls and boys, Dublin

• ‘Services seem to focus mainly on people living in Dublin. What about people, including children and young people, living in rural areas?’
-Group of young girls, Dublin

• ‘If all children and all people have rights why doesn’t everyone get to live their rights, why are some people denied their rights and why don’t we all share more so everyone’s rights to things like a home and clean water are respected?’
-Group of 11 and 12 year old boys and girls, Laois

• im 15 years old the thing that bothers me the most would be when a young person goes into a shop and the shop keepers stare at you but if you walk in with an adult they don’t look. In my point of view the shop keeper is discriminating a young child.
-15 year old boy

• ‘Young people and their families should not be excluded from taking part in community services (e.g. sports club) and school activities because they can’t afford to pay subs, etc.’
-14 year old boy, Dublin

• ‘I personally have suffered from this [discrimination against young people] when people would accuse me of robbery, vandalism or assault when I had a tight hair cut and a pierce ear.’
-15 year old boy, Cork

• ‘we should not be (but are) looked down on because we are younger.’
-16 year old girl, Dublin

• ‘I see young people being discriminated against for their social standing or for something their parents have done.’
-14 year old girl, Clare

• ‘I think it’s hard sometimes to mix with Irish girls when you’re not Irish, some girls are not always nice, but some are.’
-Post-primary student, Dublin

• ‘Travellers and non-nationals are often bullied.’
-Young person, Meath

• ‘The right to play and rest is important so we all enjoy life. And it keeps us fit!’
-Group of 14 year old boys, Dublin

• ‘Around in Dundalk I think we should get a big park.’
-11 year old girl, Louth

• ‘We get in trouble for being around estates, but we have nowhere even to go; no youth club in our area; no access to a good, fun place; nothing to do.’
-Group of young people, Dublin

• ‘The local environment and facilities are not child/youth-friendly, the park is dangerous and there’s broken glass.’
-Group of 16-18 year olds, Dublin

• ‘Where I live there is no place to play. This is the thing I want to change. For there to be more space to play.’
-Young girl, Limerick

• ‘Children and young people whose families can’t pay for activities need to play on the streets and this brings its own problems.’
-Young girl, Dublin

• ‘Being involved in sport keeps children and young people off drugs and under-age drinking.’
-Young person

• ‘There should be activities like film clubs / writer groups for young people who are not into sport.’
-Group of young people, Clare

• ‘The local community is dangerous for children and young people - drinking, bonfires, cars being burned out, no security.’
-Group of 16-18 year old boys and girls

• ‘Many little children don’t come out because they wouldn’t be allowed because of all the robbed cars that are around going too fast. There isn’t much places for cars to park just outside the houses and it makes the road smaller. Kids would all the time run out in front of the cars and would get hurt.’
-Young girl, Dublin

• ‘The roads aren’t very safe. There should be more footpaths to get places, a pedestrian crossing outside the school, zebra crossings, traffic lights and the hedges along the roads should be cut in case cars hit someone’.
-Group of boys and girls, Clare

• ‘There needs to be more traffic lights and lollipop ladies to manage traffic so roads are safer, including around the school. Traffic lights should change more slowly.’
-Group of boys and girls, Dublin

• ‘The pipes and drains in parts of the town need to be fixed to prevent overflow of sewage and flooding.’
-Group of girls and boys, Dublin

• ‘More bins are needed on the street and on the beach.’
-Young person, Dublin

• ‘We are happy living in the countryside – the fresh air, fields and wild animals, lots of space and nature around, having big lands and fields to play in. Living in the country is good for our animals too – a lot of space for my dog to run; I like the way my cat can climb trees, run everywhere and dig.’
- Group of boys and girls, Tipperary