Politicians work from a mandate given by the people who vote for them. They listen to the people from their local areas. We want to ensure that every TD in Ireland hears from their constituents how important supporting young people and youth work is in Budget 2024.
By taking the time to personally contact your local TDs, you are adding powerful momentum to the campaign for youth work to receive adequate investment in Budget 2024.
What to say?
The more personal communication is to TDs the better. If you have a personal experience with the importance of youth work and you feel comfortable enough to share it, then putting it in a letter will really hit home.
We also have a template email that you can use, which will get the key messages across if sent. You can copy and paste this from the bottom of this page.
Remember for all communication, being passionate is welcome. It’s also essential to be respectful.
Get your local representatives’ contact details now
Why contact all TDs and not just government parties?
We need the importance of investing in young people and youth work to be understood by all politicians. TDs all have different ways of influencing the budget, be it in Government, at Committees or in the Dáil. Opposition parties also produce their own alternative budgets and provide budget analysis. We need to make sure that our ask for young people and youth work is at the centre of all this work.
Help us by feeding back
If you contact your local representatives directly, we want to hear about it. Let us know who you contacted and how it went by emailing Grace@nyci.ie. Tell us things like who you contacted, what their response was and if any further information or follow up is required.
This will help NYCI as we continue our own campaign, by letting us know what areas have had a lot of contact, where might need more, and where we need to focus.
Template email to copy and customise
It really helps if you personalise the email with the TDs name, and the name of your constituency too.
Dear Deputy [name]
I am writing to you as a constituent of [insert constituency] to ask for your support for increased investment of €9.4 million in young people and youth work in Budget 2024.
This is important to me because
[insert your own experience of being a young person/importance of youth work]
Or
This is important to me because I believe youth work changes lives, and I want every young person in Ireland to have access to high quality, sustainable youth work.
Youth work organisations say that deprivation among young people they work with is on the rise, and the need for youth services is growing dramatically as young people and their communities feel the effects of the cost-of-living crisis.
Youth workers are often a lifeline for young people, particularly for those who have the least. The wide range of activities provided by youth organisations support young people in their personal and social development, positive mental health, physical wellbeing, job skills and much more.
The rising cost of living is also placing a huge strain on youth work organisations themselves, and many organisations are struggling to deliver vital youth work services because of inflation.
The Government must provide the necessary resources for these organisations to meet the growing needs of young people, and to provide an Ireland where young people can live, grow, and flourish.
I am writing to you today to ask that you support the National Youth Council of Ireland’s call for the Government to invest an additional €9.4m in youth work services in Budget 2024, to provide more supports and activities for young people and meet the needs of our growing youth population. The NYCI and its members across the country believe this increase is needed to help ensure the sustainability of the sector, and deal with current challenges facing many services.
I would appreciate your response to the above and ask that you raise this issue further, so that we can ensure Budget 2024 invests in young people and youth work.
Regards,
Your name