SDLP Youth
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| SDLP Youth | |
|---|---|
| SDLP Youth Logo | |
| Chairperson | Jude Osborne |
| Vice-Chairperson | Eilidh O'Connor |
| Founded | 10 June 1995[1] |
| Headquarters | Belfast, Northern Ireland |
| Ideology | Social democracy Irish nationalism |
| Mother party | SDLP |
| International affiliation | International Union of Socialist Youth (IUSY) (observer) |
| European affiliation | Young European Socialists (YES) |
| Website | www |
SDLP Youth is the youth wing of the social democratic[2] and Irish nationalist[3] political party, the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP). Membership of the organisation is entitled to SDLP party members of the age 30 and under.[4] It is organised throughout Northern Ireland and plays an active role within the SDLP at all levels of the organisation.
Organisation
[edit | edit source]SDLP Youth is currently organised across much of Northern Ireland, including University societies. The group is split into a number of branches with the executive committee acting as the governing body of the organisation.
Executive
[edit | edit source]SDLP Youth is organised at a national level by the Youth Executive. The Youth Executive is responsible for the day-to-day running of SDLP Youth. It consists of nine Officers elected at the annual Youth Conference.
The current Officers of the Youth Executive elected in August 2025 are:
| Executive Position | Officer | Constituency |
|---|---|---|
| Chairperson | Jude Osborne | East Derry |
| Vice-Chairperson and North-South Officer | Eilidh O'Connor | East Derry |
| Secretary General | Fiachra McCarney-Savage | Belfast South and Mid Down |
| Campaigns and Communications Officer | Will Polland | Strangford |
| Equality Officer | Nancy Lynn | North Antrim |
| Membership Officer | Tony McCann | North Down |
| Policy Officer | Maeve Cunningham | North Antrim |
| Under 18's Officer | Alex Egan | Belfast South and Mid Down |
Branches
[edit | edit source]The current SDLP Youth branch organisations[5] are:
- SDLP Youth Antrim Branch
- SDLP Youth Belfast - Paddy Wilson Branch
- SDLP Youth Derry Branch
- SDLP Youth East Derry Branch
- SDLP Youth Mid Ulster - Paddy Heron Branch
- SDLP Youth Newry and Armagh Branch
- SDLP Youth West Tyrone Branch
- Queen's University SDLP Society [6]
- Ulster University SDLP Society
Former SDLP branch organisations include:
- Magee SDLP[7]
- SDLP Youth Strabane[8]
- SDLP Youth South Down[9]
- SDLP Youth Upper Bann[10]
History
[edit | edit source]A youth section of the SDLP was first floated in late 1973 which led to the short lived group "the Young Social Democrats" which organised from 1974 to 1976.[11]
The current youth wing started organising in the early 1990s bringing motions, such as the decriminalisation of marijuana,[12] to party conferences but it wasn’t until 10 June 1995 that SDLP Youth became a distinct section of the SDLP when it was added to the party constitution.[13]
International
[edit | edit source]SDLP Youth are full members of the Young European Socialists (YES),[14] formerly the European Community Organisation of Socialist Youth (ECOSY), having been admitted at the 1994 conference in Munich.[15] At this 1994 conference future SDLP MLA for South Belfast Conall McDevitt was elected as an ECOSY vice-president after being elected the National Secretary of Labour Youth in 1993.[16] At 2021 YES Congress Leah Rea became the first member of SDLP Youth to be nominated and elected to the YES Presidium as Vice-President.[17]
In 2016 SDLP Youth and YES held a joint seminar in Belfast on "far-right extremism and Brexit" which was attended by young socialist activists from across Europe.[18]
SDLP Youth are also observer members of International Union of Socialist Youth (IUSY).[19]
References
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- ^ https://home.q-su.org/clubssocieties/sdlp/
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- ^ "@strab_sdlpyouth" on Twitter
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- ^ "@sdlpu" on Twitter
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External links
[edit | edit source]- Official homepage of SDLP Youth Archived 2011-07-06 at the Wayback Machine
