Youth policy governance takes place at a national level in Ireland. The Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (DCEDIY) is the main government department responsible for youth policy in Ireland. The DCEDIY's Statement of Strategy (2024-2025) states that the department ‘will work collaboratively across Government and with a wide range of stakeholders to ensure a co-ordinated approach to policy and delivery of services'. 

The main youth policy in Ireland is Young Ireland: the National Policy Framework for Children and Young People 2023-2028. It is Ireland’s second National Policy Framework for children and young people aged 0-24 years. The framework  was published in November 2023 and covers the period 2023-2028, and focus on how Government works to realise the rights of children and young people in Ireland. It: 

• sets out current issues impacting children and young people;
• sets out a programme of work to create an enabling environment to ensure that children and young people are a central part of everyone’s agenda;
• announces spotlight programmes to focus on the most significant challenges for children and young people, with resources from across government;
• re-establishes governance structures where the State will work with civil society partners to provide renewed leadership and impetus to realise existing policy commitments;
• identifies the priority areas requiring coordinated action across Government; and, 
• identifies a number of complementary actions to address issues that were identified during the development of this framework. 
   

The latest National Youth Strategy ran from 2015-2020 and targeted children and young people aged 10-24 years. The aim of the National Youth Strategy is to enable all young people to realise their maximum potential, by respecting their rights and hearing their voices, while protecting and supporting them as they transition from childhood to adulthood. The National Youth Strategy's basis was in Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures: The National Policy Framework for Children and Young People 2014-2020 (Ireland's first / previous National Policy Framework).