Young Carer Voices Key Action 154 Youth Participation Project
As a follow on to the Carers Connected ESC Project, several of the participants formed a larger team to deliver the Young Carer Voices Key Action 154 Youth Participation Project, led by Shannika Greene with Saoirse Hayden as the Assistant Project Lead. The project is coached by CAIM Empowers Director of Services, Faye Hayden. The project Team will deliver a first of its kind National Young Carers Conference at the O'Reilly Hall at University College Dublin on Saturday March 7th, and there will be three regional events in the summer of 2026 to elevate the voice of young carers.
This ambitious project aims to give a voice to young people with caring responsibility both on the day, and via participatory research conducted around Ireland by the project team via a FIKA Focus Group Format The project delivery is supported by the Office of the Ombudsman for Children and will be attended by the prestigious Guest Professor Philip Jaffe who is the Vice Chair of the UN Committee of the Rights of the Child and will be opened by Irish President Catherine Connolly. Several decision makers in various capacities, including Politicians, Public Service Leads, Educators, Youth, Health and Social Care workers will come together to hear the voice of young carers with a view to working together to drive action, to drive positive change and improve life experiences and outcomes for young carers.
The VIPs of the day however are young carers themselves. Tickets to the event are free and can be booked here National Young Carer Conference 2026 - BY Young Carers FOR Young Carers. Tickets, Sat 7 Mar 2026 at 11:00 | Eventbrite
Speakers will include the voice of the young carer, research presentations from Dr Sarah Donnelly of UCD (Carer Harm) and Professor Breda Maloney of UL (Impact of being a Young Carer on Senior Cycle Participation).
The event is operated by young carers for young carers and is also open to key decision makers in the lives of young carers, including educators, youth/social/health care workers, politicians and parents/guardians. The event MC will be well known youth advocate, Cara Darmody.
Additionally, there will be information stands hosted by Spunout, Children’s Ombudsman, Family Carers Ireland, Carers Alliance, Leargas, and many fun activities for young people, including an appearance by The Kabin Krew, VR activities, photo booth and much more – including a goody bag for every young person.
Event Details
11 – 4.30pm - Saturday March 7th at the O’Reilly Hall University College Dublin.
Free Transport is available.
Target Audience:
Young Carers aged 12-17 and Young Adult Carers aged 18-24
Families of Young Carers
Politicians: Government Ministers, Opposition TDs Spokespeople, County Councillors
Public Service Leads: – Tusla, HSE, DES, DCEDIY, ETBs, ETBI.
Youth/Social Care Services: E.G ETBs, CYPSC, FRCs, NYCI, IYF, Family Carers Ireland Youth Team, Carers Alliance, Foroige, Youthwork Ireland.
Media
Theme:
‘The Real Young Carers of Ireland’
To present an accurate picture of life as a young carer, exploring topics that are ‘hard to hear’ and not openly discussed, whilst also celebrating the important role that young carers lay and the positive skills they develop and experiences they have.
Raising awareness of the challenges faced and taking an action focused approach at the conference to how to mitigate and resolve those challenges. Securing commitments from key decision makers.
Topics:
- Impact of Caring on young people in education (primary to third level), health, social life.
- Adultification of young carers
- Violence in the home (sibling to sibling and parent to child in cases of disability/illness e.g Autism, ADHD, Dementia, Brain injury)
- Poverty and Deprivation
- Mental Health Challenges
- Social Isolation and Loneliness
- Caring in the EU – welcoming groups of young carers from the 3 other countries participating in the NEXUS project. Nexus – connecting research, policy and practices to support young carers Italy, Estonia, Greece.
Who is a Young Carer?
There is no quick or easy answer, in the 2022 Census, 4800 young people under age 15
were self-identified as being Young Carers, research by Family Carers Ireland however estimated in 2020 that the number is over 66,000 young people, and the conference project team believe this figure is underestimated.
Young Carers are deemed as young people under the age of 18
Young adult Carers are aged 18-24
This conference is for both young carers and young adult carers. We do suggest that no one
under the age of 12 attends unless accompanied by a parent or guardian, due to the nature of
some of the content.
A common misconception about young carers is that the must be the main/primary carer in the
home – this is not correct, most young carers are a secondary carer.
This can include (but is not limited too) young people who have a family member who:
- Has a disability e.eg a sibling with Autism or Down Syndrome / a Parent with MS
- Has a long term injury or illness. E.g a sibling with cancer or grandparent with dementia.
- Has a mental health condition. E.g Anxiety, Depression, Bi Polar, OCD.
- Has Addiction Challenges. E.g Alcohol, illegal or prescription drugs, gambling.
- Experiences Trauma. Eg this could be a foster sibling or a person who has experienced
Refugee or Asylum Seeker Status living in the community or Direct Provision/IPAS
accommodation.
Please view this video to understand the role of a Young Carer https://youtu.be/6miJJXdWUVQ
We recognise that many young people and their families do not use the term Young Carer as they simply see the additional responsibilities it brings as part of family life and every family is different, they therefore do not know or realise that the term Young Carer exists. All young people with such responsibilities do count under the definition of Young Carers for the purposes of attending this conference.
There is no minimum threshold for the amount of responsibility a young person has to be
considered a Young Carer. It is unique to everyone.
Feel free to contact us at YCCONF26@GMAIL.COM or 086 172 3650 for more details
Please see this link to watch full video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6miJJXdWUVQ
