The Child Poverty and Well-being Programme Office (CPWPO) was established in Spring 2023 in Department of the Taoiseach (D/Taoiseach). From Poverty to Potential the Programme Office’s initial 2.5-year Programme Plan was published on the 1 August 2023. A key objective of the Programme Plan is to include the voices of children and young people in its decision-making. To find out more about the work of the Programme Office, you can visit gov.ie/childpoverty.

The Taoiseach hosted the inaugural Child Poverty and Well-being Summit in Dublin Castle on the 23 May 2024. Child and youth participation was central to this event.

In advance of the Summit, the Taoiseach consulted with children and young people directly to hear what is important to them, including policy priorities and actions on child poverty and child well-being. Working with the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (D/CEDIY), the Programme Office established a Youth Advisory Group (YAG) to facilitate this engagement.

The purpose of the YAG was to bring together young people from around Ireland to discuss issues that matter to them, their peers and younger children, with the final output of their discussion culminating into the video for the Summit, where key stakeholders in the areas of child poverty and well-being were in attendance. The video can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbjC_JkIi_I

The purpose of this report is to capture and put on record the views of the young people involved in the YAG, to communicate the views of the YAG to decision-makers and to ensure that the YAG will be able to influence decisions that affect them.