Not a cent from gov to encourage youth voting
national |
politics / elections |
press release 
Wednesday March 24, 2004 13:49
by rayo - lp
Labour Party European Candidate for Dublin, Ivana Bacik, today condemned the Government for ignoring the low level of voting among young people.
Speaking to students in Alexandra College, Dublin, Ivana stated, "The Government is ploughing huge resources into a campaign to promote electronic voting. €4.5m has been allocated to fund a slick marketing campaign to promote the Government's pet project, despite the widespread and legitimate concern among voters about e-voting.
"In stark contrast, the Government isn't spending one cent to encourage young people to vote. This despite the fact that less and less young people are exercising the right to vote. CSO figures reveal that at the last general election in nearly 60% of young people aged 18-19 didn't vote. Likewise 47% of young people aged 20-24 didn't cast a ballot.
"The vast majority of young people are excluded from the electoral process because of problems with the getting their name on the electoral register. 40% of people aged 18-19 didn't vote because either they weren't registered or they weren't registered at a suitable address.
This is a basic problem that could be overcome with a concerted registration campaign specifically designed for young people. Yet the Government has failed to tackle this problem. It seems to be content that 40% of young voters are excluded from the process.
"As a lecturer I work closely with young people. I know they are interested in the future of their country and want to make their voice heard. They are being deliberately ignored by the Government. FF and the PDs are content to splurge €4.5m promoting their e-voting scheme, but won't invest one cent in encouraging young people to exercise their democratic right. It is a disgrace"
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At the Launch of the Partys' Local government policy this week the Labour Party has proposed the voting age to be droped to 16 years.
Comments (17 of 17)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17That's how Emma Goldman, another would-be workers' leader of eastern European background, put it.
And standing at school gates pushing votes at the impressionable young is neither dignified nor socially desirable, Ivana.
Or at least until the voter has payed some PAYE - And you can only vote for people who've had real jobs - not like Ms. Bacik
What an informative thread. It illustrates that people on both sides of the political divide can spout glib nonsense
Though I realise that my position is somewhat weakened by my inability to correctly spell the word "reasoned"...
that people are attracted to power for the wrong reasons, and a sizeable percentage of those in power (be they ff, fg, labour) will be corrupted once elected.
therefore young people dont vote.
sorry for taking an anarchist perspective here-hope i havent offended many on the right wing of labour (inc)! people would vote if they thought it mattered - well in this central democracy, it doesnt.people see that, people arent stupid, therefore they dont vote.
the only tds the young identify with are parish pump specialties like jacky healy rae, and other such gobshites.
making "political education" or somesuch manditory for the junior cert (garrett fitzgearld) or spending money on enticing the youth out (ivana bacik)to vote is nothing short of , at mostpure cynical social manipulation, or at least pure stupidity.
Tell it to someone in North Korea. Or tell it to a black citizen of South Africa.
If complaining changed anything we wouldnt need to vote
these civics course or what ever
does anyone know much about them, goes off to look...
i bet they don't teach looking afterself
not a an anarchist idea just commonsense?
Fergal - I wonder if the N.Koreans or South Africans crave democracy or equality. The two terms are not synonymous as we've had so called democracy in the west for years and we still have raging inequality.
I agree with those who say democracy is sham, but i've got to qualify this. Liberal democracy (i.e. democracy + capitalism + low regulation) is most certainly a sham - where the market and private concerns are allowed to dictate so much.
Democracy, i think can only be valid where there is near full participation within it, and those elected are held trul accountable to the electorate. Not what someone (can't rememberwho) has described as a sixty second democracy - where one is only empowered for that brief moment when one casts ones vote and is then left to a virtual dictatorship for the next 5 years!
the gov did intro civics studies in school
depedning onn what they teach a subject like has as good as chance of any on encourageing people to vote...
so ...
nice to see fergals deep analysis here. lets have n.korea as the yardstick for democracy or freedom here?
twat
"lets have n.korea as the yardstick for democracy or freedom here?
twat"
Conor - Your first sentance doesn't even make grammatical sense, and your second is pretty rich from someone who sees fit to bemoan a lack of deep analysis.
Of course N. Korea isn't the best bencmark for democracy (obviously, it's probably the worst) I merely mention it to make the point that people have and continue to fight and die for democracy, so to call it a sham is in poor taste coming from someone who (I presume) has never had to live without it.
Oh and while I'm on the topic of N. Korea, I'd suggest that it's the most equal society in the world. I still wouldn't want to live there though.
c
You only know one 4-letter word? How about "cunt"? Try it, it'd suit you.
cock
God don't you know journalists are reading,
what effect will this have on our childrens' and parents' media next week?
Id reduce the voting age to 16 but would deny a vote to people who cannot spell words like "paid".
As the youth of Ireland are the main victims of the Landlord/Fianna Fail land and housing scam, its hardly surprising that nothing is done to encourage them to vote.
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