I have never been very good at getting the balance right between praising a young person and being patronising.

But on the other hand, in three weeks time I will be a 60 year old….an aul fella……so I suppose I should just get used to the fact that a person of my age cannot say anything to a young person without sounding pompous and patronising. So here goes.

There is a Gaelic phrase…..Mól an óige agus tiochfaidh sí which translates as Encourage Youth and it will Prosper.

I am not at all sure that the SDLP was ever really good at encouraging “Youth” but to be fair in 1973, when the idea was first discussed….it was frankly a bad time. Not really a priority. The SDLP possibly suffered.

But this is 2012. And for those who like to watch sport…..lets say Football…..supporters take a special delight in watching “youth players” develop into reserve team players and then see them run out with the First Team. It happens in Politics too.

There is more than a suggestion that the current crop of SDLP Youth are a “golden generation”. Clearly they can do things at Youth level. Clearly some such as Colin Keenan, the councilor for Lower Falls in Belfast and Colum Eastwood MLA for Foyle have now got “first team experience”. Others like Malachy Quinn and Christine Wilson have been designated as SDLP Representatives….”shadow councilors” effectively and I suppose I would call this “reserve team football”. But tellingly SDLP branches seem to be promoting youth to officer positions.

This has to be a good sign…both for the young members themselves and the Party Organisation.