Sharon Keogan criticised a recent Children's Ombudsman report on rising youth extremism, arguing the findings are driven by a deteriorating national situation and flawed methodology. She also condemned a government video advising young people to "cope" with moving back in with parents as evidence of failure on housing.
Report critique
Keogan argued the report treats alleged extremism as a symptom rather than a cause, saying many views labelled "extremist" are historically common-sense positions. She described the study as "a narrative dressed up as data" and warned it is worthless as evidence for policy.
Label and youth agency
Keogan said the government is using the "extremist" label to villainise ordinary people who question policy, and criticised the framing of young people as passive victims brainwashed online. She called that assumption insulting and said it removes agency from young people who can think critically.
Methodology concerns
Keogan pointed to specific methodological flaws - 28 schools hand‑picked from a list of 200, many already linked to OCO programmes, voluntary participation, no random sampling, no clear definition of extremism and no weighting for gender imbalance. She said these shortcomings mean the study cannot reliably inform policy.
Housing advice and government response
Keogan condemned a weekend government video telling young people to "cope" with moving back in with their parents, calling the message capitulation rather than policy. She said it amounts to a demeaning pep talk that gaslights young people and signals failure on housing, immigration, law and order and basic governance.
Closing remark
Keogan concluded that the greatest extremism in the country is "extremism of failure" and warned the backlash will persist until substantive failures are addressed. She closed her remarks with the phrase "Go raibh maine goad."
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Today I would like to address two things, the first of which is in a recent report from the Children's Ombudsman warning of the rise of the so-called extremism among the youth. The first thing to say is that extremism does not appear out of thin air. It is a response, a backlash, to a deteriorating situation in this country. Furthermore, when we look at what has been labelled as extremist among the legitimate cases, we too often find views that most people, for most of history, would have called common sense. This is the government's latest trick. Slap the word extremist on anyone who dares to question them. It is a way to villainise the ordinary people, to ignore their own horrific level of failure and then to scapegoat the natural backlash as the work of some shadowy agents spreading addictive, nefarious ideas online. And this study from the Ombudsman of Children's Office is a perfect example of that. It is framed as if young people are clueless victims, brainwashed by extremists lurking in the dark corners of the internet. That framing is insulting. It assumes our young people have no agency, no ability to think critically and we have conveniently led to the conclusion that the state must swoop in to save young people from themselves. But let's look at the methodology. 28 schools hand-picked from a list of 200, many already linked to the OCO programmes. Voluntary participation, no random sampling, no definition of extremism, no weighing for gender imbalance. This is not robust research. It is a narrative dressed up as data and for that reason it is worthless as evidence for policy. If the government wants to understand why people are angry, why they are pushing back, they should start looking in the mirror. Because the greatest extremism in Ireland is extremism of failure. Failure on housing, failure on immigration, failure on law and order, failure on basic governance and until that changes the backlash will continue no matter how many surveys they publish to pretend otherwise. And on that subject of tone deaf responses, this leads me to the second thing which I want to address today. We have all seen the government's video released over the weekend telling young people how to cope with moving back in with their parents. Cope. That is not policy. That is capitulation. It is an admission that the government has failed so spectacularly on housing that the best they can offer is a demeaning pep talk. Instead of fixing the crisis they created, they are telling our young people to grin and bear it, as if losing independence is just a lifestyle choice. That is not leadership, it is gaslighting. Go raibh maine goad.
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