'LifePod' puts young people in the picture

It's not quite as sleek as an iPod, and it definitely won't play anything by the Arctic Monkeys, but the "LifePod" released on Thursday by the Citizens Information Service in Dublin may end up being a whole lot more valuable.

The LifePod, which is a document wallet styled on the iPod, contains vital information about such necessities as employment, voting and borrowing money.

The LifePod is aimed at north Dublin residents aged between 16 and 19, said Anne Bennett, the information officer at the Dublin Northwest Citizens Information Service (CIS).

"It's very user-friendly," said Ms Bennett. "There are small little cards that you can take out and put in with information about education, saving money and contact details of the relevant agencies."

The CIS spoke to local young people about the kind of information they wanted to have at hand.

"A lot of them, for example, didn't have a clue about how to vote, and we have a big immigrant population so they weren't sure of what they were entitled to vote in, so we included all that information."

"We tried to cover as much as possible, so there are different cards about third-level education, what kinds of grants are available, and there's information about the different levels of minimum wages, and who is entitled to what."

The LifePod was launched by Children's Ombudsman Emily Logan. "I believe that it is very important that young people have access to information when they need it," she said.

© 2007 The Irish Times

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times