The Rural Youth (RY) officers around the country have played a massive role in getting the message from the RY committee out there and have been a huge part of the success of the committee in recent times. We hope and know this will continues into 2021.

The RY calendar has been a key part of providing that success, with each month focusing on a specific theme to help RY officers around the country coordinate their efforts.

January is, of course, the month of new year’s resolutions, trying new things or learning new skills. With that in mind, we are encouraging members to challenge themselves in January and to try something new.

Promoting good sexual health and safe sex is not something that is discussed enough. We will be using February to bring conversations around this to the fore as well as the importance of consent.

Having dedicated November to men and their health, May will promote positive health among ladies

March is all about celebrating being rural. When coming up with this theme, we thought about the fact that despite the poor-quality broadband and the sometimes-non-existent public transport links, rural Ireland is actually an amazing place to live and we felt that being apart of it is something to celebrate.

We will be working with the ag affairs committee on the theme for April surrounding farm safety. This is an important topic all year round, but with silage season on the horizon, we felt that it would be an important time to promote this.

Having dedicated November to men and their health, May will promote positive health among ladies. In 2020, the RY committee nationally organised a collection of toiletries, which were donated to women’s shelters across the country. Several counties also organised various talks and pamper days and such initiatives will be encouraged again.

AGM

May brings around the national AGM, which will introduce a new committee and a whole new calendar. This also brings the opportunity for Macra members on the ground to submit applications to be co-opted onto the 21/22 RY committee.

This is something anyone who wants to play a role in shaping the future of the organisation should consider joining.

Sun and water safety are the focus for June. Sun safety in particular is often overlooked by the rural community, and with skin cancer being one of the most common types of cancer in Ireland, this is a highly important issue.

We will be encouraging the use of sunscreen and skin health in general. We will be providing tips on water safety and how to enjoy yourself and be safe at the beach and around water.

For July and August, the theme is ‘Know Your Neighbour’. During these months, RY will be promoting and encouraging clubs to be more involved and to give back to their local community.

We have a very experienced prep team in place, who have already put a huge amount of work into planning the event, which no doubt will be a massive success

Aside from the calendar, the RY committee will be promoting the use of the services of two important partners of Macra na Feirme established in 2020, Turn2me and the Irish Blood Transfusion Service. Throughout the year, we will be promoting and encouraging members to visit their local blood donation clinic and to highlight the many services Turn2me has to offer.

Coupled with all of this, the committee and its working groups are working on a number of policies for the organisation going forward, from future Macra inclusion policies to the future of work and what it could look like.

Finally, COVID-19 dependant, to round off the year Macra na Feirme will be hosting a seminar titled ‘Building Bridges: Creating an LGBT+ Positive Europe.’

This event will be held in Newgrange, Co Meath, in November and will welcome participants from 25 countries across Europe. The event was due to be held in November 2020, but was postponed as a result of the pandemic. We have a very experienced prep team in place, who have already put a huge amount of work into planning the event, which no doubt will be a massive success.

Happy New Year to all – we can’t wait to get stuck in!