“I was a Traveller girl from Labre halting site in Ballyfermot and I was involved in youth clubs from a young age. I didn’t like school and I was at risk of dropping out. My mother died before I started secondary school and then I was in a horrible accident that put me in a wheelchair for a while. I was on crutches and had lots of surgery. I was angry and I couldn’t understand why all these bad things had happened in life.

Youth club was a space I could go after school to do my homework. It was a space where I could just go and have a bar of chocolate and a cup of tay. When you’re 12 or 13, you don’t really know that you’re poor, but there’s no way I would have finished school without youth work. I never felt judged. Youth work didn’t take away my culture as a Traveller, but instead gave me the tools to live as a free young person exploring the world, because I could tell my youth worker anything and I always knew I could fall back on them.

I wouldn’t be the person I am today without the youth club. It introduced me to activism, it informed me about social change and it educated me to think for myself. It gave me my voice. It helped me to socialise, which can be tough for Travellers mixing with settled people. I made the friends I still have today. I went on to college, studying youth work at Maynooth University. Today, I’m the first Traveller ever to serve in the Seanad and I use my voice to advocate for young and marginalised people. I know the value of youth work because of the doors it opened for me and thousands of other young people.”

Youth services need to be properly funded – they’re a lifeline for so many young people. Will you add your name to the petition for more investment in youth work in Budget 23?