ActionTalks is a national speech writing competition for young people aged 14 to 18 across Ireland. Since its inception, more than 1,000 young people have entered the competition from over 200 schools across the country.
The competition is an opportunity for young people to explore the root causes of global injustices and inequalities. To enter research and write a five-minute or 600-word speech on one of the following topics:
Then ask your teacher to email the speech to [email protected] with your name and school clearly in the heading. Competition closes on Friday January 16th 2026.
ActionTalks is a great opportunity for young people to develop writing and research skills and deepen their awareness of social issues. It might be of particular interest to students studying CSPE, Politics & Society, or English. For Transition Year students that competition is a wonderful way to take part in society as outlined in the new programme. We hope students will come up with innovative, well-researched, and creative speeches, using their own unique perspective. In addition, there is a €50 voucher prize for regional winners, with a first-place prize of a €500 voucher, with an additional €100 for their teacher.
For any further infromation visit our FAQ page here or contact [email protected]
We highly encourage both students and teachers to use our resources. For secondary school teachers our resources are recommended for English, CSPE, Politics and Society and Transition Year classes. These resources include three presentations and lesson plans, all of which feature videos, group work, and interactive elements. Each presentation is under this year’s themes of the climate crisis, the role of education in gender equality and the importance of funding women’s rights organisations.Â
Simply enter your details below to download the resources. Â
Do you want to take further action on the issues you have learned about as part of the competition such as contacting a local politician or writing a letter to your local newspaper? If so, you can download our free take-action guides here to support you to take further action.Â
Our annual ActionTalks Speech Writing Competition is a part of our Global Citizenship Education work, supported by Irish Aid. We are members of the Irish Development Education Association and are signed up to their code of conduct for Global Citizenship Education to ensure our resources, formal, non-formal and informal, meet the best possible standards.Â
In 2025, students wrote speeches on climate crisis, women leadership during emergencies and overseas aid and women’s rights organisations. ActionAid received 90 entries from 23 schools across 12 counties.Â
Aimee Dignam, a student at Our Lady’s School Terenure, Dublin, was announced as the winner at the national finals, which were held in Dublin’s Europe House in April. For winning first place she received a €500 voucher, and her teacher received a €100 voucher.Â
Her winning speech can be read here.
“Young people are the upcoming voices for the world. I would say to them, if not you, then who? It is really important that we are able to step up to become the future leaders and make a change.”–Aimee Dignam, winner of the ActionTalks competition in 2025
Along with Aimee, five other student’s exemplary work made it to the national finals, receiving a €50 euro voucher each. Their work can be read here below.
