CDYS Youth Work Ireland

Cloyne Diocesan Youth Services is committed to providing a range of services that positively value and nurture young people.

There were a lot of boys clubs in different parishes in the Diocese of Cloyne in the early 1960’s. The initiative to form a national organisation began in Limerick in 1961 which resulted in the formation of the Federation of Catholic Boys Clubs in 1962. Cloyne Diocese was represented at these early meetings but it is difficult to determine when exactly the forerunner of the present Cloyne Diocesan Youth Services was constituted. There is evidence of active participation of clubs in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s.

When the National Federation of Youth Clubs was established in 1973 with a new constitution Cloyne was firmly on the map and active at a national level. Sometime after this the Cloyne Diocesan Youth Club organisation was renamed the Cloyne Federation of Youth Clubs. Among those who played a part of national level over the years are Fr. Donal Leahy, Margaret Nagle (Doneraile), Hazel Fair (Rathcormac), John Hogan (Midleton) and Michael Hennessy (Mitchelstown).

February 1988 saw yet another change as the National Federation of Youth Clubs ceased to exist and was replaced by the National Youth Federation, to which Cloyne Federation of Youth Clubs affiliated in 1989 following a change in its constitution and name; it now became the Cloyne Youth Federation. In 1999 following a period of partnership with the diocese Cloyne Diocesan Youth Service was formed. The regional office was based in Cobh from 1980 to 1984. Following this, it was based in Ivy Cottage, Fermoy. In 2005 Cloyne Diocesan Youth Services became a company limited by guarantee and the main office moved from Fermoy Family Building to Mallow Community Youth Centre.