Hello John,
I hope that you are staying safe and well during these challenging times.
You will be aware of deeply concerning reports about the possibility that the Department of Children and Youth Affairs (DCYA) may be abolished.
NYCI has joined forces with the Children's Rights Alliance and sixty other children and youth organisations to call for the retention of the DCYA in the next Government.
This was one of the key ‘asks’ in our manifesto for the General Election, and we will be working to ensure that the message is heard that now more than ever, young people will need their own voice in Cabinet given they are facing into such a difficult and uncertain future.
We will also encourage all our member organisations to write their own letters asking for the retention of the DCYA and to contact all politicians that they have existing relationships with to advise them of the importance of retaining DCYA.
Online you can add your voice using #TheDCYAMustStay.
Today at 4:40 there is a debate in the Oireachtas on the issue of Childcare, which will provide an opportunity to highlight the importance of retaining a full Department of Children and Youth Affairs and a full Minister.
The establishment of the Department for Children and Young Affairs in 2011 - and the appointment of the first ever cabinet level Minister - was a significant development. After several damning reports and inquiries which demonstrated that since the foundation of the State that the needs, concerns and voice of children and young people were too often forgotten and ignored in Government, the Department was a demonstration that the State valued children and young people and was at last willing to address their needs and concerns in a coordinated manner across Government.
The proposal that the Department now may be dismantled and its functions be cast to the four winds is a betrayal of this generation of children and young people and must be rejected.
We will continue to work on this issue on your behalf, and urge you to add your voice,
Kind regards,
Mary
Mary Cunningham
CEO
National Youth Council of Ireland
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