Ireland's First UN Youth Delegates
17/9/15
Minister Flanagan with the UN Youth Delegates
Ireland’s first UN Youth Delegates - Orla Murphy and Eoin O’Liatháin – met with Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Charlie Flanagan, at a special event in Dublin today.
Orla and Eoin will travel to New York in late September to join Ireland’s delegation to the United Nations, and participate in various UN events and meetings. They will also share their knowledge and experiences at events in Ireland, helping to involve young Irish people in international development policy.
Their engagement is part of the UN Youth Delegate programme, organised with the National Youth Council of Ireland and funded through Irish Aid. This is the first year that Ireland has participated in the UN Youth Delegate Programme. It is part of a series of events to mark the 60th anniversary of Ireland’s membership of the United Nations.
The UN Youth Delegate programme is organised with the National Youth Council of Ireland and funded through Irish Aid.
Orla and Eoin were selected as Ireland’s first UN Youth Delegates following an extremely competitive selection process, which was launched at an Irish Aid event with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon in May 2015. Their long history of engagement in development education and global citizen initiatives really impressed the judges!
Minister Flanagan congratulated Orla and Eoin on their selection, commenting that active and engaged young people will be central to Ireland’s continued support to development, peace and security, and human rights.
During their New York visit (from 23 September – 14 October), the delegates will have the opportunity to attend the historic UN Summit of world leaders to adopt the Sustainable Development Goals. They will also join the UN General Assembly Opening Week, participate in a joint Irish Aid/World Food Programme Zero Hunger event, attend the launch of an Exhibition on Ireland’s First Years at the United Nations (1955-1957), and participate in lots of other UN and youth side events.
The Youth Delegates also joined the Minister in launching a special classroom map, which was sponsored by Irish Aid to mark the 60th Anniversary of of Ireland’s membership of the United Nations. The map shows where Ireland has worked with the UN over the past 60 years – tackling poverty through the Irish Aid programme, building peace and security through our peacekeepers and security policy, and promoting human rights.
The map, which is aimed a Junior Cycle students aged between 13 and 15, will be distributed to secondary schools around the country for use in classroom activities. The map complements Irish Aid’s long-running workshops on global issues for secondary schools, which run in the Irish Aid Centre from September to April.
Watch the address by our first ever Irish UN Youth Delegates to Third Committee
[The address starts at 1:43:58 and ends at 1:48:30]
http://webtv.un.org/watch/player/4539511482001