13 secondary school students from across the County have been tasked with choosing five delegates to represent Clare in next February’s Dail na nÓg in Croke Park.Dáil na nÓg means "youth parliament". The annual event allows children from 34 local authority areas around the country to meet on a national level to discuss issues that are important to them. The topics chosen by Comhairlí to be discussed at Dail na nÓg 2009 are Mental Health and Healthy Living/Health Promotion. This is the second year that Mental Health has been a topic at Dáil na nÓg.
The Clare section committee was chosen at last week’s Comhairle na nÓg meeting in Ennis, which brought together more than eighty Primary School and Secondary School students from across Clare. The Clare Comhairle committee includes Amanda Asana (Ennis Community College); Carol Nagle, Aine Ryan and Therese McLery (Sixmilebridge Secondary School); Caoimhin King and David Callinan (Ennistymon); Siobhan McCarthy, Amy Bickerton and Bella O'Keefe (Tulla Secondary School): and James Stack, Claire Murray, Nicola O'Keefe and Pádraig Kennelly (Spanish Point). The committee will select the five-person Clare Dail na nÓg delegation at a meeting early next year.
Councillor PJ Kelly, Chair of Clare County Development Board, described Dail na nÓg as a “wonderful opportunity” for young people to contribute to making things better for themselves and their communities. He stated: “In a period of great social change in Ireland as the credit crunch takes effect in all aspects of life, it is important that students not only look at how issues such as health are relevant to their communities today but also what way they should be handled in the years to come.”
Nicola Cullinan, Comhairle na nÓg Coordinator, Community and Enterprise, Clare County Council, said that Dail na nÓg would provide an invaluable opportunity for young people, under 18 years of age, to have a say in issues that affect their lives. She continued: “In recent years, the input and opinions of Clare Comhairle na nÓg delegates have helped to formulate national policies affecting the lives of young people and children.”
Further information on Comhairle na nÓg is available from Nicola Cullinan, Comhairle na nÓg Coordinator, Community and Enterprise, Clare County Council, at 056-6846222 or dceoff@clarecoco.ie. For more on Dáil na nÓg log on to www.dailnanog.ie.
