The National Youth Organisation

Information about the National Youth Organisation and how you can get involved.

It has become evident throughout the past year that young people are making huge efforts to be seen and heard. The National Youth Organisation was launched at the start of 2008 so as to help young people to be seen and heard and to provide the young people of Ireland with a voice on national issues on a continuous basis

Many people speculated that the National Youth Organisation (YO) would be a complete failure, due to the apparent lack of interest that young people are supposed to have in their society, but thankfully there has been a great response from young people of all backgrounds, races and opinions towards the NYO, showing that the young people of today care about using their voice.

To put things simply, the National Youth Organisation is a representative body of the young people of Ireland, which focuses on all issues that affect young people. Just some of these issues include the lack of say that young people have in society, alcohol and drugs, mental health, education, facilities and employment.

The NYO has already proved it is capable of tackling tough issues through the national youth protest earlier this year, which demanded a better voice for young people. I think the protest went fantastically and the NYO managed to secure a meeting with the Minister of Children. Following the event, NYO members spoke on national radio stations about the protest and what the NYO is about.

Apart from protests, the NYO is also involved and supporting a growing number of campaigns including anti-bullying/ suicide campaigns, promotion of youth council campaigns, student council campaigns and even health campaigns.

Any young person in Ireland can join the National Youth Organisation and absolutely no experience is needed, it’s all about expressing your views and your opinions.

So, if you would like to get involved in the NYO, don’t be afraid to email nyo@live.ie.