Seen and Heard: Michael Barron on 10 Years of the OCO
Michael Barron, founding director of BeLonG to, Ireland's national Lesbian, Gay, Transgender, Bisexual youth organisation shares his views with Louise Denvir on the Ombudsman for Children's Office, and how it has helped BeLonG To. He also gives his opinion on the key issues and challenges for the next 10 years.
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Below is a text transcript of what Michael had to say
(Crowd Noise)
Michael Barron; I’m Michael Barron. I’m the founding director of Belong To which is Ireland’s National Lesbian, Gay, bisexual and transgender youth organisation.
Question; It’s a great day for the OCO, 10th anniversary, what are your views on it?
Michael Barron; We’ve worked with Emily in the Ombudsman for Children's Office now for almost the entire ten years. I remember she came to visit us just weeks after she’d taken up the post and we’ve always developed a very strong relationship. For instance the advice that she gave the department around bullying highlighted the needs of LGBT young people in schools.
It’s extremely important and more recently her advice to the Minister for Social Protection on the Gender Recognition Bill which stated that the draft Bill excluding under 18s was unhelpful, I suppose, or possibly breached the rights of under 18s, which resulted in the department changing the bill so there’s some very concrete stuff that happened as well.
Question; And what do you think are the key issues and challenges then, in the coming years.
Michael Barron; Well, I think in an immediate term, exciting as well will be the implementation of the Dept. of Children, Youth Affairs, a National Policy Framework for children and young people. I think it’s very ambitious, it is rights based. It talks about safety, it talks about rights, it talks about freedom from discrimination, all the stuff that we would work very hard on. And I think there’s a good framework there, so I think it will be a real challenge to have that implemented. I think there are certain basic rights that young people we work with don’t have and can’t access. Like the children of gay and lesbian parents, for instance. There’s also the huge underlying issue of poverty across Irish society, there’s a lot to do.
(Crowd Noise)
(Fade out)
END