Schull Community College

In March 2010, fifth year student Amy O'Kane represented the College and Munster at the European Youth Parliament national conference in Dublin. Amy progressed through the regional stages of the selection process and represented herself exceptionally well and is now one of the finalists hoping to be selected as part of the Irish delegation to the European Youth Parliament

In 2008, was our second time participating in the European Youth Parliament in Rennes. This time Orla O'Regan represented the college with an Irish delegation and in the youth group representing the committee on Agriculture. Orla spoke at the General Assembly and argued her point well. Well done Orla.


THE EUROPEAN YOUTH PARLIAMENT
The European Youth Parliament (EYP; in French, Parlement Européen des Jeunes, PEJ) is a politically and religiously unbound non-profit, which encourages European youth to actively engage in citizenship and cultural understanding. It involves 20,000 youngsters from all around Europe. It was established in 1987 in , France


EYP organises three international nine-day sessions each year. They are organized in different countries and all European countries are invited to join, not just members of the . Each country's national committee selects a delegation to participate in each session, the size of the delegation depends on the country and how long time its National Committee has been part of EYP.

The delegations are then spread out in different committees, each committee with a particular topic. This ensures a maximized cultural diversity in the committee and serves as a strong incentive to socialize and make friends with people from the committee.

Each international session starts with of a two-day Teambuilding part, in which delegates get acquainted with each other and start improving the group dynamics of the committee. The delegates play different games which are meant to bring the delegates from an initial shyness stage to a comfortable, open atmosphere optimal for efficient Committee work.

This is followed by four or five days for Committee Work. During this time the delegates discuss a problematic topic on current European political matters and write a resolution on how to deal with the issue. A member of the European Parliament or some alternative expert will generally visit once to answer questions and quickly discuss the topic with the Committee.


The sessions ends with a General Assembly, in which the committee resolutions are looked through, altered and approved (or if the resolution is found unacceptable, not approved). If a resolution is approved it is sent on to the European Parliament, for the consideration of MEPs. General Assembly is usually held in some honorary or prestigious location, such as the host country's Houses of Parliament or the main hall of the City Council.