Politicians should listen to Ireland's youth

'Do politicians listen to young people?' the banner on the stand asked. When I put this question to the lads from Coolock manning the display, they didn't hesitate. "No, they don't. They are only interested in people with votes."

It is the politicians' loss, because if David Hickson, Philip Johnson, Kevin Regan and Lawrence Whelan, who are all in transition year in Chanel College, are anything to go by, they have plenty to say that is worth listening to.

They told me, when I stopped by their stand at the National Showcase of Young Social Innovators last Wednesday, that for the last 32 years the local football ground has had no dressing rooms, and people are still having to change on the sidelines. What use was it to say to young people to get involved in sport if the proper facilities were not in place? They did have kind words for Cllr Larry O'Toole of Sinn Féin, who had been helpful to them. Other political parties take note.

About three years ago, I was at a play in Mountjoy prison, and being a non-driver, as usual was pathetically grateful for a lift home. The person who took pity on me was Rachel Collier, who had worked for years with Sr Stan in Focus Ireland, the agency that works to advance the right of everyone to have a place to call home. Rachel told me about a dream she, Stan and others were working on, which was a way to tap into young people's energy and dreams and to harness them for the good of society.

From that idea, Young Social Innovators was born. When Rachel invited me to see the results last week, I was startled to see how much of the dream had become reality.

The first thing that struck me in the manically busy exhibition centre was that regional accents are alive and well. From Donegal to Cork, and from Limerick to Dublin, there were very few homogenised mid-Atlantic tones to be heard. The distinctive voices of the new Irish were to be heard too, mingling easily with their peers.

The second thing that struck me was the down-to-earth camaraderie, completely devoid of the competitiveness that is a feature of some other exhibitions involving young people that I have visited.

There were 144 projects on display, and the topics chosen were a fascinating insight into the concerns of young people.

Colourful posters dealt with everything from mental health, cancer, domestic violence, death on the roads, facilities for young people, rights for immigrants and asylum seekers, to sex education and positive images of people with disabilities.

Many of the young people I spoke to spontaneously mentioned their teachers, whether it was the fact that their teacher had given them a needed boost to keep going when things got tough, or had helped them present their ideas to the school or to the wider community. There was a great maturity about some of the projects, including one from St Angela's in Waterford, where Lucy Twigg, Fionnuala Knox and Emma Sheil told me about how they had decided to tackle problems like depression and suicide by emphasising positive mental health, using a tailored approach for junior and senior students.

Meanwhile, Kim Proctor and Marion O'Neill, from Scoil Chríost Rí, in Portlaoise, told me definitively that prison was not the place for people with mental illness, and that it was disgraceful that a high percentage of people detained in so-called "strip cells" were mentally ill.

At St Columba's Comprehensive School in Donegal, Auveen Gallagher, Michael Mannering, and Jacqueline Boyd explained how they had turned a neglected area of the school ground into a "peaceful patch", a beautifully designed garden where students can relax.

Young Social Innovators aims to act as a hub for all sorts of governmental and non-governmental agencies, to enable creative synergies to happen. So, for example, some youth cafes have been established with the help of other agencies like Foroige. This seemed to be a key issue - the lack of places where young people can hang out without getting into trouble.

The local authority in Lisdoonvarna had better look out, as Róisín Crowe, Patricia Cusack, Catherine Gallery, Sarah McMahon, Áine O'Sullivan and Laura Sims, all from Mary Immaculate Secondary School in Lisdoonvarna, were cheerfully displaying photographs of a disgracefully neglected playground.

They were also pointedly showing photos of the excellent facilities to be found in nearby Doolin, a smaller community.

As the country reluctantly prepares for the next election, it was great to see how young people often cut to the heart of the matter in a way tired adults seem to have forgotten how to do.

The indomitable lads from Coolock told me that in their school, one teacher encourages every one who is 18 to register to vote by providing the forms in the school.

The transition year students want to go one step further. They want to have a ceremony in school to celebrate getting registered to vote.

It was very refreshing at a time when the electoral register is in danger of becoming a joke, because of anything from a quarter to three-quarters of a million of inaccurately registered voters, to hear young people who actually value the right to exercise their mandate.

As I wandered from stand to stand at the showcase, I amused myself by making a list of people that I would like to be able to drag to come and see it. The doomsayers who seem to make a career out of saying that young people are lazy, de-motivated and apolitical topped the list.

It was abundantly clear that given the right opportunity and support, young people are capable of being as idealistic as they ever were.

They may live in a society that values cool, ironic detachment far more than commitment, but they manage, nonetheless, to retain the ability to become passionately involved. The only pity is that so many of us lose it, when we, allegedly, grow up.