SDLP Youth
Youth wing of the Social Democratic and Labour Party
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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.
| SDLP Youth | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Chairperson | Fiachra McCarney-Savage |
| 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 |
Organisation
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
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 | Fiachra McCarney-Savage | Belfast South and Mid Down |
| Vice-Chairperson and North-South Officer | Eilidh O'Connor | East Derry |
| Secretary General | Aaron Blaney | Belfast West |
| Campaigns and Communications Officer | Will Polland | Strangford |
| Equality Officer | Eabha Cowan | East Antrim |
| Membership Officer | Tony McCann | North Down |
| Policy Officer | Alex Egan | Belfast South and Mid Down |
| Under 18's Officer | Jack McCubbin | Fermanagh and South Tyrone |
| Women's Officer | Chloe Finlay | Strangford |
Branches
The current SDLP Youth branch organisations[5] are:
- Antrim
- Belfast
- Derry
- East Derry
- Fermanagh
- Newry and Armagh
- Queen's University Belfast
- South Down
- Ulster University
- West Tyrone
Former SDLP branch organisations include:
History
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.[9]
The current youth wing started organising in the early 1990s bringing motions, such as the decriminalisation of marijuana,[10] 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.[11]
International
SDLP Youth are full members of the Young European Socialists (YES),[12] formerly the European Community Organisation of Socialist Youth (ECOSY), having been admitted at the 1994 conference in Munich.[13] 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.[14] 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.[15]
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.[16]
SDLP Youth are also observer members of International Union of Socialist Youth.[17]