Sphere 17 Regional Youth Service celebrates 10 years with a new youth centre in Priorswood.

A visit from the Sam Maguire Cup was just one of the highlights as Sphere 17 Regional Youth Service celebrated its 10th anniversary with the opening of the new Priorswood Youth Centre. The event on 21st October was held to showcase how young people in the Dublin 17 area engage with their youth service and centres. It also gave Sphere 17’s funders and the local community a chance to see first-hand the services the new centre is providing.

Young DJs showed off the skills they had learned through CreateSound, a music production and education project. Young people who had travelled to Poland on a cultural exchange shared their experiences, while others displayed the arts and crafts they had produced in the centre. Even the catering was provided by young volunteers. The event was attended by Minister of State Aodhán Ó Ríordáin, Tommy Broughan TD, Sen Averil Power and Cllr Larry O’Toole.

Before cutting the ribbon on the new centre, Seán Taaffe (14) and Karla Keegan (15) spoke of their experiences with the service. Karla said: "When I first came to Sphere 17, I was very shy but I became closer to new people and the youth workers. It’s a safe, friendly place to mix and make new friends, and it’s always open to new faces."

Sphere 17 was established in October 2005 with the merging of existing community youth projects in Darndale, Bonnybrook and Priorswood. In addition to providing support and information, it adopts a creative, participatory approach to engaging local young people in social, recreational, educational and health programmes. Sphere 17 believes that meaningful involvement of young people at all levels is central to its service. A 2012 survey of the views of young people’s in the area – Our Service, Our Say – helped to shape Sphere 17’s current strategic plan, while young people in Priorswood were also directly involved in discussions about the design of the new centre.

“Our success and strength comes from the people involved in the service,” Sphere 17’s Manager Mick Ferron says. “That means everyone from young people to the board, staff and volunteers who engage with them. And while individuals may come and go, this won’t change. Key to it is to keep young people at the heart of what we do. That will remain our focus over the next ten, twenty, fifty or even a hundred years.”

Support from the Department of Children and Youth Affairs, the Irish Youth Justice Service, City of Dublin Youth Service Board, Pobal and St. Stephen’s Green Trust enabled Sphere 17 to raise the €125,000 required to develop the new youth centre. Recent years have seen funding for Sphere 17’s services greatly reduced at the same time as demand for its services has continued to grow. In 2014, over 1500 young people engaged with its services – an increase over 300 individuals from 2013. The new Priorswood Youth Centre will be better able to cater for that demand, and to provide a safe, welcoming space for young people.

Sphere 17 Regional Youth Service provides a 6-day service to young people between the ages of 10 and 21 in the Dublin 17 area. Its youth centres in Bonnybrook, Darndale and Priorswood open late four nights a week – Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Sphere 17 is primarily funded by the Department of Children and Youth Affairs and the Department of Justice and Equality.