Big Debate

The irony of the Yes and No campaigns for the Children Referendum was that neither side went far enough to engage or inform the very people the Referendum concerned – children. The Ombudsman for Children’s ‘Big Debate’, chaired by Joe Duffy in November 2012, helped to address that and included 200 students from schools and youth groups around the country who gathered at the Aviva Stadium to argue the case for and against the Referendum.

Eight students stepped up to the podium to debate the arguments in favour of as well as against and the debate was opened up to the floor. At the end, the crowd voted in favour of the referendum by 84/57. Children’s Ombudsman Emily Logan commented at the time: “Young people were surprised that despite the referendum affecting their lives that there has been no serious attempt to inform them, including through leaflets into their homes. I think there are serious lessons for adults to learn from this about civic engagement and educating young people about democracy.”