Tipperary County Council Receives Child and Youth Participation Award

Tipperary County Council have been awarded the TUSLA Child and Youth Participation award for the ‘Quality of Life’ consultation they held for the young people and children of Clonmel. This consultation involved assessing focus groups of young people in a range of schools, education centres and a third level institute who were asked to rewrite a survey to be accessible for their own age group. Their answers were recorded by a researcher and the focus groups themselves were sketched by a student artist.  

Through various activities the young people relayed issues they felt needed to be addressed within Clonmel including disability housing, poor transport links, littering and the closure of businesses around the town. Some of the children who took part in the focus groups took their ideas to the Chief Executive of the county council where they discussed each one individually outlining what they would like to see happen in their area. Since the focus groups ideas were recorded many improvements have been made to Clonmel including the improvement of public transport, initiatives have been introduced for the elimination of drug misuse and improvements have been made in town parks including the introduction of sensory equipment to make the area more inclusive.  

This project showed that the children and young people of Clonmel care about the issues they can see in the area they live in. These issues being considered by the council showed the real influence that these young citizens have in driving improvements in their lives and improving the well-being of all.  

The award ceremony where this award will be presented will be held on Thursday the 28th of November from 12pm to 3pm in the Lighthouse Cinema Dublin.