Enhance Citizen Engagement in Policy Making: Youth (IE0037)
Overview
At-a-Glance
Action Plan: Ireland National Action Plan 2016-2018
Action Plan Cycle: 2016
Status: Inactive
Institutions
Lead Institution: Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, Department of Children and Youth Affairs
Support Institution(s): All government departments and public bodies
Policy Areas
Marginalized Communities, Public ParticipationIRM Review
IRM Report: Ireland End-of-Term Report 2016-2018, Ireland Mid-Term Report 2016-2018
Starred: No
Early Results: Marginal
Design i
Verifiable: Yes
Relevant to OGP Values: Civic Participation
Implementation i
Description
Commitment Text:
The Department of Children and Youth Affairs will establish a Children and Young
People’s Participation Hub, as a national centre for excellence on the participation of
children and young people. The Hub will support Government departments and other
organisations by providing training, developing good practice toolkits and supporting
organisations to effectively involve children and young people in decision-making,
including young children and those who are seldom heard.
Milestone:
4B. Establish a participation hub for children and youth
Responsible institution: Department of Public Expenditure and Reform
Supporting institution: Department of Children and Youth Affairs (DCYA)
Start date: January 2017
End date: June 2018
IRM Midterm Status Summary
4B. Enhance Citizen Engagement in Policy Making: Youth
Commitment Text:
The Department of Children and Youth Affairs will establish a Children and Young People’s Participation Hub, as a national centre for excellence on the participation of children and young people. The Hub will support Government departments and other organisations by providing training, developing good practice toolkits and supporting organisations to effectively involve children and young people in decision-making, including young children and those who are seldom heard.
Milestone:
4B. Establish a participation hub for children and youth
Responsible institution: Department of Public Expenditure and Reform
Supporting institution: Department of Children and Youth Affairs (DCYA)
Start date: January 2017
End date: June 2018
Editorial Note: For the remainder of the commitment text, see Commitment 4A.
Context and Objectives
Whereas the previous milestones (4A) were targeted at increasing citizen engagement in general, this milestone seeks to increase participation of youth and children in decision-making processes specifically. Young people’s views are not always taken into consideration when policies are made, even though such policies will often have an impact on younger citizens’ lives for a longer period of time compared to the rest of the electorate. To accomplish this objective, this milestone calls for the establishment of a Children and Young People’s Participation Hub. The creation of this Hub is based on an initiative started in 2015 that stems from Action 2.5.1 from the first action plan[Note: For more information on this, see Minister Reilly’s press release, available at: https://www.dcya.gov.ie/viewdoc.asp?Docid=3471. ] and it is expected to serve as a national centre for excellence on the participation of children and young people, support government departments by providing training, and develop good practice toolkits to involve youth in decision making.
The goal of improving young people’s access to participation in decision-making processes is relevant to the OGP value of civic participation. The milestone has a clear objective of creating a hub of excellence, but it is unclear if youths themselves will have a say on what constitutes ‘best practise’ to involve youth in decision making and, if so, what exactly will be taken into consideration. Therefore, the specificity is medium. If fully implemented, the Hub help could increase the participation of youth, but it is not fully clear how the training that is provided will either (a) really educate youth beyond the status quo, and (b) how this training to youth will then be translated into meaningful participation in the policy making process. Therefore, the potential impact is moderate.
Completion
The level of completion of this commitment is substantial and on schedule. The government outlines in its progress report on the commitment that key achievements have included commissioning further education and continuing professional development programmes in Ireland, and developing a training programme to seek the views of children and young people.[Note: Also, on 24 January 2017: a three-year contract to provide children and young people’s participation support services to the Department of Children and Youth Affairs is announced. See this news on the Children’s Research Network website.] The Hub also has a dedicated webpage[Note: ‘Children and Young People’s Participation Hub,’ Department of Children and Youth Affairs, n.d., https://www.dcya.gov.ie/viewdoc.asp?fn=%2Fdocuments%2FPlayandRec%2F20170124ChildrenAndYoungPeopleParticipationHubMainPage.htm. ] which was substantially improved during the first year of the action plan by housing an online children’s participation database of publications on the theory and practise of young people’s participation in decision making. Remaining next steps—according to the government’s progress report—include developing a three-year work plan for the Hub and further developing a training plan and training materials. A civil society leader interviewed for this study was unaware of the levels of completion for this milestone, primarily because the outreach with stakeholders in this area has not been robust.[Note: Interview held October 2017.]
Next Steps
The development of the Hub has been an ongoing project since 2015 and the completion of the Hub is expected to take place over the second year of the action plan. Moving forward, it might be useful to determine how youth participation can actually influence the formation of public policy. In this regard, the IRM researcher recommends to:
Consider one or two policy proposals that are of salience to children and young people on which the government is presently preparing a bill (or on which a bill is being passed in parliament).
Garner the views of youth, using the Hub as a first point of collection of evidence of different policy position, and
Have a representative sample of youth sharing said positions appear before the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Education and Skills to give evidence.[Note: ‘Joint Committee on Education and Skills,’ Houses of the Oireachtas, n.d., http://www.oireachtas.ie/parliament/oireachtasbusiness/committees_list/es/. ]
A recent example of a policy presently being examined by the Committee is on the future funding on higher education,[Note: ‘Education Committee continue their examination of the future funding of higher education in Ireland,’ Houses of the Oireachtas, 6 April 2017, http://www.oireachtas.ie/parliament/mediazone/pressreleases/2017/name-41588-en.html. ] but there may be others to be developed in the next two years that the government may consider as well.
IRM End of Term Status Summary
For commitment details, see https://www.opengovpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2001/01/Ireland_End-Term_...
Commitments
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Promote Transparent Climate Policy Development
IE0031, 2016, Environment and Climate
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Support Public Participation Networks
IE0032, 2016, Capacity Building
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Improve Access to Justice: Reducing Costs
IE0033, 2016, Access to Justice
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Improve Access to Justice: Framework to Assist Vulnerable Persons
IE0034, 2016, Access to Justice
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Improve Access to Justice: Oversight of Legal Practitioners
IE0035, 2016, Access to Justice
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Enhance Citizen Engagement in Policy Making: General
IE0036, 2016, Capacity Building
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Enhance Citizen Engagement in Policy Making: Youth
IE0037, 2016, Marginalized Communities
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Enhance Customer Engagement
IE0038, 2016, Access to Information
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Improve Access to Government Services Through Technology
IE0039, 2016, Capacity Building
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Participatory Budgeting
IE0040, 2016, Fiscal Openness
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Improve Transparency of Government Service Providers
IE0041, 2016, Access to Information
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Enhance Fiscal Transparency
IE0042, 2016, Fiscal Openness
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Introduce Modern Document Management Procedures
IE0043, 2016, Access to Information
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Develop an Open Data Strategy 2017-2020
IE0044, 2016, Access to Information
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Invest in Data Infrastructure That Will Result in Better Open Data
IE0045, 2016, Access to Information
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Develop a Code of Practice for the Governance of Charities
IE0046, 2016,
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Public Sector Standards Bill
IE0047, 2016, Anti-Corruption
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Establish a Register of Beneficial Ownership
IE0048, 2016, Anti-Corruption
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Establishment of Best Practice Standards for Open Data
IE0001, 2014, Access to Information
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Establishment of Ireland’S Open Data Platform
IE0002, 2014, Access to Information
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Undertake an Audit of Key Datasets for Publication
IE0003, 2014, Access to Information
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Establish a Roadmap for the Open Data and an Evaluation Framework to Provide Assessment of the Ongoing Open Data
IE0004, 2014, Access to Information
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Establishment of an Open Data Ireland Governance Board (ODIGB) and Steering and Implementation Group (SIG) for Open Data Ireland
IE0005, 2014, Access to Information
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Signing up to the G8 Open Data Charter
IE0006, 2014, Access to Information
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Implementing Open Data
IE0007, 2014, Access to Information
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Improve Computer Literacy Through Implementation of Proposed New Digital Strategy for Schools
IE0008, 2014, Capacity Building
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Review National and International Practice to Develop Revised Principles / Code for Public Engagement/Consultation with Citizens, Civil Society and Others by Public Bodies.
IE0009, 2014, Public Participation
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Hold Referenda Arising from the Recommendations of the Constitutional Convention
IE0010, 2014, Gender
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Ethics Reform
IE0011, 2014, Anti-Corruption
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Strengthening Freedom of Information - Implement the Code of Practice for Freedom of Information (FOI).
IE0012, 2014, Access to Information
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Reform of FOI
IE0013, 2014, Access to Information
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Regulation of Lobbying
IE0014, 2014, Legislation & Regulation
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Encourage, Protect and Raise Awareness of Whistleblower Duties and Protections
IE0015, 2014, Anti-Corruption
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Measures to Increase Citizen Participation in Decision Making on Policy and Legislative Proposals. Systemic Pre-Legislative Scrutiny of Draft Bills
IE0016, 2014, Legislation & Regulation
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Develop and Deliver Access to Environmental Information (AIE) Training Module for Public Officials
IE0017, 2014, Access to Information
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Increase Citizen Participation at Local Level. Pilot Approach to Implementation of Public Participation Networks
IE0018, 2014, Open Regulations
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Provide Legal Base for Public Participation Framework in Local Government
IE0019, 2014, Capacity Building
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Undertake a Feasibility Study on Possible Means of Enabling Further Citizen Engagement in Local Authority Budgetary Processes
IE0020, 2014, Fiscal Openness
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Support Children and Young People as Citizens. Develop, Finalise and Publish the First Government Strategy on Children and Young People's Participation in Decision-Making.
IE0021, 2014, Capacity Building
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Maximise Participation and Understanding of Young People in Civic Life
IE0022, 2014, Capacity Building
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Development of an ICT Strategy
IE0023, 2014,
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Data Sharing and Governance Bill
IE0024, 2014, E-Government
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Public Services Card
IE0025, 2014, E-Government
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Single Customer View
IE0026, 2014, E-Government
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Local Government Portal
IE0027, 2014, E-Government
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New Local Enterprise Offices
IE0028, 2014, Subnational
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Review and Enhancement of Complaints Procedures and Using Feedback to Improve Services Across the Public Service; a Review of Citizen Complaints Procedures Will Be Undertaken.
IE0029, 2014, Public Participation
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Enhance Customer Engagement
IE0030, 2014, Public Participation