Knockadoon Youth Week (KYW) was founded in 2011 by a group of volunteers with strong ties to the camp who banded together to create a safe space for young people to come together to enjoy themselves, grow in their faith, and relax in the company of their peers. 

The vision for the KYW was simple: a place for teenagers to strengthen bonds with each other and learn about themselves through sport, games, music, dance, fun, and catechesis.

The journey began with a single week of just 60 campers and 20 leaders in 2011, but quickly expanded to a two weeks in 2012 thanks to its popularity in Dundalk, Tallaght, and Cork.

A third week was added to the programme in 2015 as campers from Newry and Kildare joined for the first time, and the KYW continued to go from strength to strength.

The KYW introduced a fourth week to the schedule in 2018, running four consecutive weeks for the first time in 2019 with more than 400 campers and over 100 leader volunteers.

Following a two year hiatus caused by the pandemic, the KYW returned with a roaring success in 2022, running three successful weeks despite the disruption to its operations.

Week 4 was reinstated the following year, and the KYW continues to take over Knockadoon Camp for an entire month each summer.

To date, the KYW has run 35 weeks over 12 summers for more than 3,300 happy campers, with a current roster of 120 leaders spread across its five regions.

Almost all current and previous KYW leaders are former campers who share the same goal of giving future generations the same incredible experience they benefited from growing up. 

As such, the KYW has a rich and full history that has touched the hearts of thousands of people – and it’s only going up from here.

In the early 1920s, Fr S. Glendon OP of the Irish Dominican Order was appointed as the founder and first director of Knockadoon Camp in the small Gaeltacht community of Knockadoon Head, Co Cork.

The camp opened each summer, welcoming hundreds of young people from across the country under the supervision of the Dominicans. It quickly became the heart of the local community, with locals residents working hard to maintain the camp with local farmers and fishermen supplying food.

Things were going smoothly until the outbreak of World War II, which saw the camp temporarily close in 1942 despite the Director’s best efforts.

The return of peace in 1945 meant Knockadoon Camp could once again be filled with the high spirits of young people and Fr B. Farrell OP was appointed the new Camp Director.

It was business for the next three decades until the camp began to expand its programmes, first introducing ecology courses to develop the understanding of the natural wildlife living along the nearby coasts and in the waters surrounding them.

The summer of 1975 brought with it the first year of Irish college Coláiste Cúram and over the next twenty years, more and more groups initiated their programmes on camp – many of which continue to run today.

Over the past century, thousands of young people from Ireland and beyond have spent time on Knockadoon Camp.

Hundreds of volunteers from groups like Knockadoon Youth Week have been touched by the spirit of the camp and return year after year, selflessly giving up their free time to allow other young people to experience the joie de vivre that exists there.

However, the work of the volunteers could never have been achieved without the cooperation, generosity, and patience of the residents of Knockadoon and the nearby Ballymacoda village.

Without the help of our neighbours and many volunteers from around Ireland, the Dominican Order could never have achieved such success with Knockadoon Camp.

Now one hundred years since its first year in operation, Knockadoon Camp continues to provide a safe place for young people to grow in their faith and human development away from home.

It has been (and hopefully always will be) somewhere that everybody is welcome, irrespective of background or experience.

Once you have experienced Knockadoon Camp, it remains with you for the rest of your life.