A Social Report for Ireland Volume II - the NESC Website

74Figure 6.38 Does Society Provide Enough Help to Children and YoungPeople who are being Discriminated Against? 2006Yes 12%No 36%Sometimes 12%Rarely 19%Not Sure 10%Source OMCYA, 2006b: 17.To address discrimination against children and young people, the young peoplethemselves felt that children should be educated on the way society is changingin order to have a better and more informed attitude towards others within thenew Irish multicultural society. A sixteen year old male respondent to the surveysuggested what was required was to: ‘Set up youth groups where all young peoplefrom different backgrounds are brought together to get to know about each other.Have cultures and different religions taught in schools more, so young people canunderstand people more’ (OMCYA, 2006b: 17).Information on racism among children is not currently available, but would be auseful addition, given our increasing racial and cultural diversity. Discriminationagainst Traveller children in the education system has been documented (ITM,2004: 13). Pavee Point (2005) argues that a lack of visibility of Traveller culturewithin the school system may lead to feelings of isolation experienced by Travellerchildren. The lack of interaction between Traveller and settled children and lackof respect for cultural identity may provide a fertile ground for discrimination.The promotion of intercultural policy can play an important role in combatingdiscrimination and racism.Young people can also be subject to negative stereotyping. In his research oninequality and the stereotyping of young people Devlin (2006) found that themedia, in particular, were prone to stereotyping young people in very negativeways by associating ‘youth’ with crime, deviance, delinquency, drug and alcoholproblems, sexual promiscuity and general disorderliness. Such stereotyping canbe damaging to the status of the group in question, diminishing the relationshipsbetween the stereotyped group and other groups in society, based on assumptionsrather than realities.