Mayo Minister opens 2025 Rural Youth Assembly

The Minister for Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht, Dara Calleary TD, has today (Wednesday, September 24) opened the fifth sitting of the National Rural Youth Assembly.

The Assembly brought together 65 delegates aged 12-25 to discuss the challenges, benefits, and opportunities for young people living in rural Ireland. Young people travelled from across the breadth of the country, including from the Donegal and Kerry Gaeltacht areas and the Islands to make recommendations for consideration by policymakers across Government.

The Assembly is an initiative of Our Rural Future 2021-2025, the Government’s national rural development policy, and was proposed by young people themselves during consultation for the policy. The Assembly provides policymakers with the opportunity to listen to the views of young people from across rural Ireland, and ensure their voices are heard.

This year’s Assembly serves as an important forum to consult with young people on the development of the next iteration of Our Rural Future, which will take effect from 2026. The recommendations agreed by the young people today will help inform policies and programmes across Government over the duration of the next Our Rural Future policy.

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Minister Calleary said: “I am delighted to welcome the young people to today’s Assembly. I thank them for their contributions, but also for their willingness to give up their time to engage with us and their clear desire to make their rural communities better places in which to grow up.

“It is hugely important that our young people have a voice in decisions which affect them. Their input can help shape policies and initiatives that support rural areas that offer young people a future that sees them remain in, or return to, their local communities to live, work or study.”

Minister Calleary also added: “Youth organisations across the country work tirelessly on behalf of young people in our rural communities and I would like to thank them for their continued work.

“Through the National Rural Youth Assembly, we can ensure that young voices are heard in the development of the next Our Rural Future policy and remain at the heart of rural development.

“I would like to thank the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality for supporting today’s Assembly, and the National Participation Office for all their effort and assistance in making the event a success.”

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