AQO 3288/22-27

Mr Nick Mathison
Alliance Party
Strangford

Tabled Date: 26/02/2026
Answered On Date: 11/03/2026
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Assembly Commission for an update on Mandate Three 2025-2027 of the Northern Ireland Youth Assembly.

Answer:

Mandate three of the Youth Assembly is underway following recruitment in September last year, which saw a thirty-five percent increase in applications this time around. A diverse group of ninety Youth Assembly Members were selected, ensuring there are voices from all constituencies, and a cohort which reflects the wider youth population in terms of Section 75.

The Youth Assembly’s ‘Big Youth Survey,’ widely promoted in schools and on social media, received almost seventeen hundred responses. The survey results formed the basis for the Youth Assembly’s first plenary in January, when Youth Assembly Members chose their three Committees for this mandate. Following a vote, the committees were confirmed as Education, Health, and Rights & Equality. The Youth Assembly Committees will now meet with experts, conduct primary research, and present findings to Assembly Committees and Ministers later in the mandate.

Youth Assembly Members have already given evidence to the Committee for Education on their proposed Committee Bill and met with the All-Party Group on Youth Participation on young people’s voices in government.

Youth Assembly Members have been supported with initial training in public speaking, political knowledge, and children’s rights to help them carry out their role. They have also considered and adopted a Code of Conduct and further support is scheduled throughout the mandate.

They have already attended several conferences and events including the recent Women’s Caucus conference, the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission Annual Human Rights Statement launch, and the Diverse Youth Conference. They have also met with officials from the Department of

Education to give views on the ‘Attendance Matters Strategy’ and the curriculum review.

The energy and commitment shown by Youth Assembly Members in these early months signals a strong and ambitious start to what promises to be another highly productive mandate.