Commissioner’s Past Engagements

You can find out more about the work of the Commissioner by viewing her diary of past events.

Events from 2015

September 2015

• Childrens Heartbeat Trust – 10 September: Meeting with Sarah Quinlan and Professor Nichola Rooney about the work of the Trust. 

• PSNI Youth Champions Meeting – 9 September: Meeting to hear more about the Youth Champions work. 

• Rathlin Island Visit – 8 September: Visited the island today to meet families and hear about island life and some of the issues they face.
• Seven Towers Residents Meeting – 7 September: UN Rapporteur Amal Aldoseri met residents as part of her fact finding visit. I had a follow up meeting with residents today, as I was very concerned about conditions. You can read more here.  
• UN Rapporteurs NI Visit – 4 September: Very happy to welcome Amal Aldoseri and Kirsten Sandberg from the UN Committee to NICCY, where they heard directly from young people about some of the issues affecting them. You can find out more about the reporting process here. 
• St Patricks High School – 3 September: Very pleased to speak at the school’s Prize Giving Ceremony, which recognises the hard work of the young people and their teachers. 
• ADDNI Exhibition – 2 September: attended an exhibition by young people to help raise awareness of AD/HD and show its many faces. You can find out more here.

August 2015

• Mela – 30 August: Meet staff from ECNI at the Mela today, and heard about their work with young people in schools and colleges. 
• Beechcroft Visit – 28 August: Visited Beechcroft Child and Adolescent In-Patient Unit and met with Jackie Wilson to learn more about their work and the issues affecting children and young people there. 
• Age GFS Seminar – 27 August: Took part in a Age GFS seminar to once again highlight the issues and our concerns with the proposed legislation excluding under 16’s. You can read more here.
• Meeting with Steven Agnew MLA – 26 August: Meeting Steven to discuss his Children’s Corporation Bill. 
• NICCY Youth Panel Residential – 25 August: Attended first Youth Panel residential, great discussion and useful insights on a range of issues including Age GFS, mental health and getting involved.
• CEOP National Crime Agency Meeting – 21 August: introductory meeting with Director Johnny Gwynne.  
• Camphill Community, Glencraig – 21 August: Meeting the young people and leaders from the group to hear more about their work.  
• Accountability and Monitoring Meeting – 20 August: one of the regular meetings with OFMDFM, our sponsor department.  
• Education Authority – 19 August: Introductory meeting with Gavin Boyd. 

July 2015

• Lakewood Regional Secure Care Centre Visit – 29 July 2015: Koulla spoke to some young people and staff. Lakewood provides secure care for children and young people who have a history of going missing and being at risk of significant harm when they are missing or who are at risk of seriously hurting themselves or others. 

• Northern Visions TV – 27 July 2015:  Interview with NVTV on the key priorities of the office.

• Culture Night Almanac Project – 24 July 2015: discussion about young people and their relationship to the Belfast. The discussion will be presented in a creative way on Culture Night Belfast on the 18th September. The aim of the project is to find a new and creative way to engage the public in civic discussions. 

• DEL Minister – 20 July 2015: Introductory meeting with Minister Farry. Discussed implementation of Pathways to success Strategy, young people not in education, employment or learning, Special Educational Needs and Disability Bill and young people with disabilities who transition from child to adult services.

• Budget reaction – 9 July 2015: concern ‘that more children will face poverty as a result of the government’s plans‘ – You can read more here. 
• Board meeting – 9 July 2015: attended NICCY’s July Board meeting today. 
• General Information leaflet – 8 July 2015: our  updated information leaflets now available. 
• Hydebank Wood Visit – 8 July 2015: introductory visit to the centre to meet staff and see the facilities. 
• Commissioner’s Meeting – 8 July 2015: meeting  Michael Wardlow (ECNI) and Claire Keatinge (COPNI) to catch up and discuss common areas of interest.
• Good Morning Ulster – 7 July 2015: On GMU this morning talking about proposed exclusion of Under 16s from anti-age discrimination law. You can find out more here. 
• Law Centre – 6 July 2015:  introductory meeting to discuss areas of common interest. 
• NICIE meeting – 6 July 2015: introductory meeting with CEO Noreen Campbell about NICIE and integrated education. 
• Anti-Age Discrimination Consultation – 6 July 2015: Read our response to OFMDFM’s announcement on the launch of its consultation on proposed new anti-age discrimination legislation. You can find more about GFS and our work in this area here.  
• Woodlands Juvenile Justice Centre – 3 July 2015: introductory visit to the centre to meet staff and see the facilities. 
• Children’s Services Cooperation Bill Meeting – 2 July 2015: meeting with OFMDFM officials for an update on passage of Bill. You can read our evidence here.

• UN Report launch – 1 July 2015: busy day launching the UN report today with the other UK children’s Commissioners in London. You can find out more, and read our report here. #ukchildrights 

June 2015

• Media interviews -29-30 June 2015: completing pre-recorded interviews for launch of the UN Report tomorrow.  
• North Belfast Alternatives – 25 June 2015: opening a new garden completed by local young people. You canfind out more about the project here on their Facebook page. 
• NICVA meeting– 25 June 2015: Attending first meeting of DE Departmental Monitoring Group.   
• DE meeting – 24 June 2015: meeting with officials to discuss a range of topics including tackling underachievement, revised curriculum and entitlement framework and academic selection. 
• Ionad Uibh Eachach – 24 June 2015: speaking at family fun day celebrating 25 Years, with Junior Minister McCann. You can view my speech here.   
• Methody Speech – 23 June 2015: very pleased to be speaking at the Methodist College Belfast junior prize giving day. You can read my speech here.  

• ARAC meeting – 22 June 2015: quarterly meeting with NICCY’s Audit and Risk Assurance Committee. 
• NICCY Youth Panel – 20 June 2015:  meeting with the Youth Panel, always great to hear their views on our work and ideas for how we might take things forward. Also filming for UN Report launch. 
• NICCY Facebook – 19 June 2015: launched a Facebook page today, another way of telling people about our work and listening to their views.  You can view the page atwww.facebook.com/nichildrenscommissioner 
• June blog – 18 June 2015: published my latest blog today on ‘Government keeping its promises’.You can read it here. 
• Children’s Champions – 18 June 2015: meeting with the Departmental Children’s Champions.
• Board meeting – 17 June 2015: attended one of NICCY’s regular Board meetings today. 
• Education Committee Evidence – 17 June 2015: Presented evidence to the Education Committee on Special Educational Needs Bill. You can view my written evidence here.  
• Parent Action Group – 15 June 2015: meeting group tonight to hear more about their work.
• Member of European Parliament (MEP) meeting – 15 June 2015: Introductory meeting with Sinn Fein MEP Martina Anderson. 
• St Teresa Primary School – 13 June 2015: Met with school council at St Teresa’s Primary School and enjoyed their summer fete. You can find out more about my School Council work here.
• Malone College – 13 June 2015: Great morning hearing about inclusion and diversity work with children and young people, and parents. You can read more here. 

• The NI Network of Children’s Contact Centres – 11 June 2015: speaking at the Network’s Annual Meeting tonight. You can read my speech here. 
• Physical Punishment – 11 June 2015: speaking with the media today to highlight the issue   following BBC reporting. You can view a joint statement I made with the Children’s Commissioner from Scotland and Wales.  
• Holy Rosary Primary School – 10 June 2015: spent a great morning with pupils and staff at the school, hearing about some of the work they are doing and projects they are involved in. 
• Education Committee – 9 June 2015: introductory meeting with Peter Weir MLA, Chair of the Committee. 
• DOE Minister – 9 June 2015: introductory meeting with Minister Durkan.
• Internet Safety – 9 June 2015: on the Nolan Show today to talk about young people keeping safe when they are online – ‘My plea to young people is to talk to someone,nothing is so bad that you can’t turn to a trusted adult who can help‘.
• June Ezine – 5 June 2015: sent out my  second ezine today with an update on the work of the office. 
• Planning meeting – 4 June 2015: forward work planning meeting with Participation and Communication team.
• Employment and Learning Committee – 3 June 2015: presented to the Committee on Special Educational Needs post-19. You can read my written evidence here. 
• Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCD) – 2 June 2015: meeting Stephanie Galbraith and Dr Julie Ann Maney from RCPCD to discuss ‘Why Children Die’ report.
• Education Committee Chair – 2 June 2015: Introductory meeting with Peter Weir MLA, Chair of the Education Committee.
• OFMDFM meeting – 2 June 2015: Introductory meeting the Deputy First Minister McGuinness and Junior Minister McIlveen.   
• Nexus Launch Event – 1 June 2015: The Commissioner joined the Health Minister at Stormont at the launch of the ‘From harm to healing’. The Commissioner spoke at the event which marked new funding from Children in Need to expand its services to victims of sexual violence and abuse. 
•  Meeting DSD Minister – 1 June 2015: Introductory meeting with the Minister for Social Development Mervyn Storey.