It is one of the failings of Irish governments over the past 20 years that so little provision has been made for the development of youth facilities. The result is that, as the summer months dawn upon us, many teens face the prospect of a prolonged holiday with little to do and nowhere to go.
Youth cafés have been offered as one potential solution to the problem. Critics have dismissed the idea, arguing that Ireland’s teens are unlikely to be sold on the notion of hot chocolate, couches and supervised socialising. But might the idea have a future? hotpress took a trip to one of Cork’s best-known youth cafés to find out what Irish teens really want.
Music and laughter emanate from behind the doors of Ballinlough Youth Cafe. Inside, some 30 teens are singing and dancing along to their favourite music. Groups of chatty youths are lazing around on couches, catching up on gossip and banter with friends and two young youth ‘leaders’ are adding marshmallows to endless orders of hot chocolate. In the next room, a group of guys are taking advantage of free foosball, pool and air hockey tables. There too, there is lots of laughter and joking about the week’s activities.
The Ballinlough facility has been the focus of some controversy in recent months. Earlier this year, its doors were shut for three months without any real explanation. But the local teens worked hard to have the facility reopened, presenting their case to every local councillor, TD and political party that would listen. Maybe they got lucky that there was an election looming. Either way, good sense prevailed – and the atmosphere here tonight has a sense of quiet vindication about it.
Aoife is a regular at the café. Chatting outside with a group of friends, she takes time to explain why they worked so hard to have it reopened. “If the café was still closed I’d just have to stay in,” she says. “But with the café open again, there’s actually something to do.”
The girls all agree that the cafe is the best place to meet up with their friends. There, they don’t have to worry about anyone’s parents getting annoyed at too many people hanging around the house. Another bonus is that, knowing where they are, their parents are more than happy to allow them to stay out a little later than would normally be the case.
What’s interesting is that it’s not just locals who are flocking to the café. In fact, youth leaders Marie O’ Donovan and Noelle Murphy tell me that teens from across the city and county have been making the trip to this particular facility. Clearly this is a reflection of the fact that there is a dearth of facilities in their own hometowns or areas. They’ve seen youngsters from as far afield as Midleton frequent the café.
On the night of my visit, I meet Eamonn from Blackrock, who has come to the café for the first time. He tells me that he’ll definitely apply for membership. “It’s handy,” he says to me. “And it’s somewhere you can go when you have nothing to do. Otherwise we’d just be hanging out – and you’d be getting robbed if you were hanging out by the chipper and places.”
While that fatalism is hardly universal, there is a feeling that the café provides an environment where the teens are safe from danger. It also provides an alternative to the drink-drug option that is such a commonplace aspect of teenagers lives in Ireland. Alcohol and solvents of any description are banned from the facility – by the order of the teens themselves, who’ve drawn up its charter of rules and regulations. Having regained their café, they are now eager to ensure that it stays open – and requiring users to follow this charter is a means of doing so.
Inevitably, there are more practical issues to address, with fundraising initiatives being planned for the coming months to raise money for remedial works that are needed.
Like many of these new cafés, this facility does not receive any State funding. Essentially a local community initiative, the café is operated on a voluntary basis and pays the rent on the premises by charging a negligible €1 cover charge (which allows you to have endless supplies of hot chocolate, tea and coffee).
Across Cork, a number of similar facilities have opened up, including new cafés in Bandon, Bantry as well as the city centre. Meanwhile, other communities like Carrigaline have acknowledged a huge demand for a facility which appeals to the average teen who wants a place to hang out and chat with friends.
As for the critics who’ve argued that Cork’s teens couldn’t care less about youth cafés, on the evidence of Ballinlough, they are wrong. Whether the enthusiasm will be sustained or not remains to be seen, but right now these cafés are exactly what Cork’s teens seem to be looking for. It may not be anyone’s cliched idea of rock ‘n’ roll, but the youth cafe is a place where they can meet, joke and chat on their own terms, without being told to move on or come back when they’re 18.
So a word to the newly-elected government: it may just be in your interest to ensure that facilities of this kind are established more widely around Cork – and are properly funded. After all, today’s youth are tomorrow’s voters.