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Ombudsman for Children’s Office 2025 Survey – Children’s Views on Emerging Social Issues in Modern Ireland
Every year the Ombudsman for Children’s Office carries out a survey with children in secondary schools across Ireland to get your views on important issues for you and your friends.
The Ombudsman for Children’s Office is a human rights organisation that works to protect and promote the rights of children living in Ireland. Part of our job is to make sure that children’s voices are heard on issues that impact them.
This year, we are carrying out a survey to find out what children and young people think about Emerging Social Issues in Modern Ireland.
It has been said in the media and elsewhere that people in Ireland are developing more ‘extreme’ views. Our survey is seeking to find out if this is the case for young people, and what young people consider ‘extreme’.
We are also seeking to find out if/how young people are impacted by this trend and whether they are hearing views that are considered 'extremist' or discriminatory at home/ at school/ in the community or online.
We have invited schools from across the country to participate in this survey. Schools have been selected to ensure a regional spread and include DEIS, non DEIS, gaelscoilleanna, community schools, private and vocational schools.
We have written to all of the selected schools inviting them to participate in this survey. We have also asked all schools to share information about the survey with parents/guardians.
Once a school has agreed to take part, it is still up to the young person themselves to decide if they want to complete the survey.
The online survey is made up 22 multiple choice and open questions and will take around 10-15 minutes to complete. You can preview the questions in the appendix below.
We will not be collecting any identifiable information on individual students and all answers will be anonymous. When we have gathered all the results from schools around Ireland we will publish them in a report that will be available on our website. The Ombudsman for Children’s Office will use this survey to inform our work in promoting children’s rights.
If you find any of the topics covered in the survey upsetting, you should speak to a teacher or adult about how you’re feeling. You can also reach out to any of these services for support:
https://www.oco.ie/contact-us/helplines/
Appendix
OCO Survey seeking views on Social Issues in Modern Ireland.
Q1. Overall, do you think that Ireland is a good or bad place to be a young person today?
Q1b. Who is the biggest influence in your life?
Q2. When you think of your own class in school or your friends outside of school, to what extent do you agree or disagree with the below sentence?
Many of my friends have views that some people would think of as extreme.
Q3. Why do you say that?
Q4. When you think of someone who holds extremist views, what type of person do you see? What gender are they? What age are they? Please describe them below as best you can.
Q5.Why do you think people share extreme views or opinions?
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They absolutely believe them |
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They want to shock people |
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They are keen to impress others |
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Their parents / guardians have similar views |
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They change their views when they are challenged about them |
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They don’t like to be challenged about their views |
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They are influenced by what their friends say |
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They are influenced by what social media influencers or figures online say |
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They think it’s funny |
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Other (please specify) |
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Don’t know |
Q6. Thinking about your own experience, where do you most often hear or see views that you feel fit with the definition of extremism
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Parents/guardians |
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Grandparents |
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Sisters |
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Brothers |
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Other extended family (e.g. aunts/uncles/cousins) |
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Friends (girls) |
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Friends (boys) |
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Neighbours |
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Online or social media content creators or influencers |
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Teachers / Coaches / Youth leaders |
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Other (please specify) |
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Nowhere/Not applicable |
Q7. In general, do you hear more extremist views online or in-person?
Q8. How important are social media platforms e.g. TikTok or YouTube in helping you and your friends to form your opinions?
Q9. How important are online chats and messaging apps e.g. Snapchat and WhatsApp in helping you and your friends to form your opinions?
Q10. How much do you agree or disagree with the below statements?
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The conversations I see or hear online affect how safe I feel day to day |
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I believe that boys are more targeted than girls by extremist views on social media |
Q11. How much do you agree or disagree that discrimination is a major issue in Ireland today?
Q12. Why do you say that?
Q13. Have you, a family member, or a friend experienced discrimination?
Q14. Would you say that your opinion on issues like gender, sexism, discrimination and migration are different to your parents?
Q15. Why do you say that?
Q16. How often, if ever, do any of the groups listed below discriminate against others?
Q17. How often, if ever, do you hear negative comments or phrases about the following issues, groups or people
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Immigration and access to housing |
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Immigration and safety in the community |
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Immigration and employment |
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People who are gay/lesbian/queer |
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People who are transgender/nonbinary |
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People with an intellectual disability |
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People with a physical disability |
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People from the Traveller/Roma community |
Q18. How often, if ever, do you hear or see comments or views expressed like the ones below?
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Society should revert to ‘traditional’ gender roles for men and women |
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Men are more entitled than women to more authority |
Q19. There are a series of statements below, please read each one and say whether you agree, disagree or don’t know to each.
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I would prefer to live in a society with less discrimination than exists in Ireland currently |
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I think that discrimination is Ireland is more prevalent now than it was in the past |
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I think having strong or extreme views is acceptable |
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More extreme views actually reflect what people feel deep down inside |
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Boys have more extreme views than girls |
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Schools should do more to combat extreme views |
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I sometimes feel threatened by the views other people express |
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It can be hard to push back when someone says something that I don’t agree with |
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People should be free to say what they want – even if other people find it hurtful or offensive |
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Social media companies need to be more proactive about managing risk to you people |
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I would feel comfortable reporting extremist views to my school/teacher / sports trainer / youth leader |
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There are role models for my age group that speaks out against extremism and discrimination |
Q20. Thinking about your own experience, where do you most often hear or see views that you feel fit with the definition of discrimination
Q21. What do you think about discrimination, integration or extreme views in Ireland. Are they impacting young people? What needs to happen? Is it not a big issue?
Q22. Before this survey had you heard of the Ombudsman for Children’s Office (OCO)?
Read our previous surveys here
No Filter; A survey of children’s experiences of the Covid pandemic
