Children to vote on what issues are most important to them

UP TO a quarter of a million children will get to choose the issues of most importance to them in the largest ballot of young people in the country’s history.

Children’s Ombudsman Emily Logan hopes more than 200,000 young people will take part in the Big Ballot at more than 1,000 schools in early November.

Her office has sent out materials to primary and second level schools, as well as Youthreach and Senior Traveller Training Centres, to help them understand and discuss the issues, and to identify which are most important to them.

The issues, as identified from research carried out for Ms Logan at University College Cork, are:

* Children’s right to be heard

* Family and care

* Health, wealth and material well-being

* Education

* Play, leisure and recreation

Each school and centre will hold its ballot during the week of November 5 to 9, with older primary pupils and Junior Certificate civic, social and political education pupils being asked to take charge of the project in their own schools. They will then return a sheet to the Ombudsman’s office, indicating the number of votes cast for each of the issues.

“The purpose of the ballot is to get as many children and young people from ages four to 18 to tell me what issues they would like me to prioritise over the next number of years,” said Ms Logan.

She will visit dozens of schools in Dublin, Cork, Kerry, Limerick, Galway, Mayo, Sligo, Donegal, Louth, Meath, Kildare, Kilkenny and Offaly next month to meet children taking part in the Big Ballot. The results will be counted in Dublin’s City Hall on November 20.

Fine Gael spokesman on children Alan Shatter yesterday called on Children’s Minister Brendan Smith to clarify when work will begin to prepare for the promised referendum on children’s rights. It had been promised earlier this year after a number of significant court rulings, but the Programme for Government proposes an Oireachtas Committee be set up to agree the wording.

“The amendment to the Constitution will seriously impact on the lives of many children and on children’s law and services. This issue must be given careful consideration,” said Mr Shatter.

Mr Smith said work is well advanced to set up the committee and he has prioritised work on the referendum.

“It would be my preference that the work of the committee and the debate surrounding the proposed referendum be undertaken in a constructive way, with the interests of children firmly at its core,” he said.