The Big Ballot

Ireland's first ever national young people's ballot!

The Big Ballot is Ireland’s first ever national ballot of children and young people. It is being organised by the Ombudsman for Children’s Office (OCO). More than 1,000 schools and education centres have signed up to participate, which means the OCO will hear from more than 200,000 young people.

The purpose of the Ballot is to get as many children and young people from the ages 4 to 18 to tell the Children’s Ombudsman what issues they would like her to prioritise over the next number of years. The children and young people will vote on 5 issues in a referendum style event in early November. These issues were identified through research by University College Cork and verified by 150 young people from right across the country.

The issues are:

• Having a voice
• Play and recreation
• Family and care
• Health, wealth and material well-being
• Education

During October, the Ombudsman for Children, Emily and her team will travel to schools and other education centres to meet with children and young people involved in the running of the Big Ballot in their own schools.

The vote itself will take place on the week of 5th to 9th November on whatever day suits individual schools. The OCO is holding an exciting event at City Hall on 20th November, Universal Children’s Day, to announce the results of the Big Ballot. The event will bring almost 500 children and young people, representing every county in Ireland, together for the results.

There will be lots of entertainment and fun lined up as well as the serious business of ensuring that the voices of the 200,000 children expected to have voted in the Big Ballot are heard at a national level.

Once the results are in the OCO will work on the issues prioritised by children and young people over the next number of years.