SDLP Youth is the youth wing of the social democratic and Irish nationalist 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. It is organised throughout Northern Ireland and plays an active role within the SDLP at all levels of the organisation.
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 March 2026 are:
Executive PositionOfficerConstituencyChairpersonFiachra McCarney-SavageBelfast South and Mid DownVice-Chairperson and North-South OfficerEilidh O'ConnorEast DerrySecretary GeneralAaron BlaneyBelfast WestCampaigns and Communications OfficerWill PollandStrangfordEquality OfficerEabha CowanEast AntrimMembership OfficerTony McCannNorth DownPolicy OfficerAlex EganBelfast South and Mid DownUnder 18's OfficerJack McCubbinFermanagh and South TyroneWomen's OfficerChloe FinlayStrangford
Branches The current SDLP Youth branch organisations 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:
Magee SDLP Strabane Upper Bann
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.
The current youth wing started organising in the early 1990s bringing motions, such as the decriminalisation of marijuana, 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.
International
SDLP Youth are full members of the Young European Socialists (YES), formerly the European Community Organisation of Socialist Youth (ECOSY), having been admitted at the 1994 conference in Munich. 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. 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.
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.
SDLP Youth are also observer members of International Union of Socialist Youth.
References
External links Official homepage of SDLP Youth