We are Limerick Comhairle Na nÓg. There is a youth council like ours in every local authority throughout the country – but none are as cool as Limerick (fact). Comhairle operates under the first goal of the National Children’s Strategy (2000): ‘Children will have a voice in matters which affect them and their views will be given due weight in accordance with their age and maturity’. The Comhairle programme is delivered by Limerick Youth Service through a service level agreement with Limerick City & County Council. There are 30 young people aged 13 to 18 years currently on Limerick Comhairle Na nÓg.

Limerick Comhairle Na nÓg identified the thematic project of LGBTQIA+ awareness and gender equality to work on in 2021 and 2022. Under this thematic banner, some excellent discussion, learning and work happened about how young people can help in a local context to raise awareness and offer support. As a result, we are excited to announce the launch of three projects on this theme on Friday 7 October 2022 at 7pm in Ormston House.

The first of these is a series of short educational videos in Irish and English that aim to inform and support the wider Limerick population with understanding LGBTQIA+ terminology, and also features a short documentary that celebrates some of the LGBTQIA+ people of Limerick. We hope that these videos can help raise awareness of what it is like to be LGBTQIA+ in Limerick, and hopefully create positive change in terms of inclusion. Secondly, we will discuss two murals we had commissioned in Limerick to celebrate gender equality and the voice of women in Limerick. Finally, then we will discuss our latest project which is a one-hour talk we hope to deliver as young people to both teachers and our peers on the theme of gender identity and understanding.