European Youth Parliament - Ireland

European Youth Parliament Ireland (Gaeilge: Parlaimint na hEorpa Óige na hÉireann) is a politically unaffiliated, nonprofit organization that encourages Irish youth to be actively engaged in political discourse. It operates across the Republic of Ireland, with Northern Ireland being under the responsibility of EYP UK. EYP Ireland represents one of the 40 National Committees of EYP International.

History
The European Youth Parliament was founded by Bettina Carr-Allinson as a school project at the Lycée François-Ier in Fontainebleau. From 2001 to 2004 the EYP encountered various financial problems and did not meet. However, on November 4, 2004, it was reborn due an agreement between the EYP's Board of National Committees, EYP alumni and the Heinz-Schwarzkopf Foundation. The politically impartial Heinz-Schwarzkopf Foundation Young Europe was founded in 1971 in Hamburg. The foundation's name was changed to the Schwarzkopf Foundation Young Europe. Since then the EYP has been overseen and supported by the Schwarzkopf-Stiftung Junges Europa and is hosted in Berlin, Germany.

In Ireland, the first national session was held in 1997. Due to the organizational structure, it was only open to students in County Dublin. It was opened up to non-Dublin students in 2000. Since then, it has gradually increased in participation. Four regional sessions are hosted every year.

Regional Sessions
Four regional sessions are operated across the nation throughout the year. The Munster Session takes place with participants from the province of Munster; the Leinster Session takes place with participants from the province of Leinster (excluding County Dublin); the Dublin Session takes place with participants from the counties of Fingal, South Dublin, Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown, and the city of Dublin; and the Connacht-Ulster Session takes place with participants from the province of Connacht and the three counties of Donegal, Cavan, and Monaghan. The six counties in Northern Ireland have their own regional session under the auspices of EYP United Kingdom.

Each regional session is held in varying location across the province. Locations may differ from year to year. For instance, the Connaught-Ulster Regional Session took place in Cavan in 2018, and Galway in 2019.

Each of these sessions take place over the course of ‘a full weekend’ (Friday evening, all-day Saturday, and all-day Sunday). The first day is dedicated to team building, in which participants get acquainted with those in their committee. The second day is where the majority of the work occurs, and a resolution is agreed upon. During the third day, the General Assembly takes place, where different committees debate and vote upon their resolutions.

National Sessions
A number of students selected from each regional session then participate in the national session. Each national session takes place in a different location around the country. The national session operates similarly to the regional sessions, but over the course of four days; two days are dedicated to creating the resolution instead of one. Students are then selected from the National Selection Conference to take part in an international session, which take place three times a year at varying locations throughout Europe and are organised by the EYP International Office.

Committees
Participants are divided into committees, which are each given a topic of discussion. The committees are based on European Parliament committees. There may be two groups of the same committee; both have different topics, and are differentiated by number (e.g. AFET 1 and AFET 2).

First the committee creates a list of problems regarding their topic, followed by a list of possible solutions to the problems. When creating solutions, committees are not allowed to violate the powers of the European Union. For instance, committees cannot declare money must be spent on fixing a problem, only recommend it. Not all committees are present at every session. It is at the whims of the organizers, who usually select topics to go with the theme of the event.

Each committee is given a topic to base their resolution on. Rather than being given a broad topic, each committee is instead given a statement. For instance, a topic for the Committee on Foreign Affairs may be ”How can the programmes and institutions run by the North-South Ministerial Council between Ireland and Northern Ireland and underpinned by EU law be best protected from the financial, political and practical fallout of Brexit?”

Due to many of the topics being uncommon, explanatory guides are given to participants prior to the beginning of the session, to give enough time for individual research.

Event Structure
The first day is usually dedicated to ice breakers in order to familiarize committee members with each other. Several games are done with the purpose of getting participants acquainted with speaking up and compromise. One, a variant of the Alligator River Story (commonly known as Abigail) is played with the intent of getting people to compromise on a situation in which everyone will have differing moral viewpoints.

On the second day, the session will be formally declared at the opening ceremony. The European Anthem is played. A guest speaker addresses the speakers - previous guest speakers have included an tUachtarán Michael D Higgins. Each committee will then discuss their topic, and create a resolution. During the national session, this takes place over two days. During the evenings of the second (and third) day, social events are held, such as a disco, table quiz, or speaking events.

The final day plays host to the General Assembly (commonly referred to as 'The G.A.'), in which each committee in turn presents their completed resolution. Other committees then have the opportunity to debate the resolution, offering points of support, (or usually) criticism toward the resolution. When all debate has finished, all students then have the opportunity to vote on the proposed resolution.

Structure of the General Assembly

 * Brainstorming Time (2 min.) - Delegates are given 2 minutes to read over the proposed resolution before each debate starts, to plan.
 * Defense Speech (3 min.) - One member of the committee will have the chance to go to the podium and deliver the defense speech on the resolution, laying out the basic underlying concepts of the proposing committee's resolution.
 * Position Speech (2 x 1.5 min.) - Following the Defense speech, a delegate from another committee has the chance to give a position speech on the Motion for a Resolution of the proposing committee. A position speech is aimed at the central ideas of the resolution.
 * Response to the Position Speech (1 min.) - After the position speech has been delivered, a member of the proposing committee receives the chance to answer the concerns raised. The response to the position speech is given from the floor.
 * Open Debate - Any committee with a point or a question on the resolution can raise their committee placard and, when recognised by the board, can pose it to the proposing committee. The board will take approximately 3 points from the floor before allowing the proposing committee to respond to all of them. There will be 3 rounds of open debate per committee. (9 individual points) During each debate, committees must raise the placard with their committee name to show that they want to speak and wait for the board to officially give them the right to speak. For each resolution, a committee has the possibility to utilise one Direct Response.
 * Summation Speech (2 x 1.5 min.) - Two members of the proposing committee can go to the podium to defend their resolution one last time. This occurs after the last round of Open Debate was responded to from the floor. The Summation Speech will be hold from the podium and it is the final chance to use all rhetorical energy and skill to convince people to vote in favour of the resolution.
 * Voting - Finally, the General Assembly will proceed to vote on the resolution by the proposing committee. All students can vote in favor, against, or abstain. When all votes are counted (which may take a while), the results are announced.

Organizational structure
The National Committee members of EYP Ireland are elected every Spring at the AGM. Positions include President, Vice-President, Treasurer, Conference Head Organiser Coordinator (CHOC), International Officer, Human Resources Officer, Fundraising and Outreach Officer, Graphic & Web Design Officer and Events Officer.

History
Ireland has hosted international sessions in 1995, 2003, 2007, and 2016. Ireland hosted one of three international sessions in 2003. It was opened by President Mary McAleese. The session took place in Dublin Castle. In 2016, Ireland hosted the international session along with Belfast, in Northern Ireland. It was the first such International Session hosted between two nations, and was designed to highlight the lasting peace between North and South.