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Pat Rabbitte's campaign diary

Second entry

Tuesday was a historic day.

The events in Stormont mark a new departure for politics in Northern Ireland, and for relations between these islands.

The re-establishment of the Northern Ireland Assembly and Executive is a remarkable achievement for politics in this Island. It has taken nearly two decades of negotiation to reach this point, but it is an achievement that all parties can take pride in having been involved at various stages during the peace process.

For all my adult life the tragedy of murder and mayhem visited on Northern Ireland loomed large. Nearly every news bulletin brought reports of more carnage and cruelty. However, people under 25 or so don't have the same experience. Anyone born in 1982 for instance was just 14 when the IRA first called a halt to its campaign of murder and bombing in 1994.

Some years ago a remarkable book was published. 'Lost Lives' is an account of the men, women and children who lost their lives through thirty years of violence. The power of the book is its simplicity. A relatively short entry gives the name, age and circumstances of each victim. The cumulative effect of the book is chilling. It remains one of the most powerful books published about the human cost of violence in Northern Ireland.

The 'Lost Lives' project partly inspired a commitment in the Labour Party manifesto to remember the victims of violence from a previous generation. From the Easter Rising in 1916 to the end of the Civil War thousands of our citizens, for all sections of Irish society, lost their lives in political violence. To this day, there is no definitive record of those who died. The Labour Party plans to compile such a record, it will be inclusive and include northerners and southerners, British and Irish, combatants and non-combatants.

Memorials, such as those in the Somme or in Washington, help us to understand, and hopefully learn, from the dark periods of the past. Labour's initiative is a similar project aimed to ensure that the individual human story behind the foundation of the State is recorded and known.

While not a major election issue, it seems more appropriate than ever, as we witness the final working out of decades of division in Stormont this week.

First entry

"Hi, thanks for taking the time to check out my blog.

First off I would like to say well done to all those involved in the Rock The Vote initiative. At a time when a cynical, dismissive attitude to politics seems to be all pervasive it's great to see a non-party campaign designed to encourage young people to realise the power of their democratic right to vote.

From now until polling day I'll be posting a weekly blog here. But this blog is not just about providing me with an online soapbox. I want to hear your views, about my blog, about Rock The Vote, about any issues of concern to you. So if anything in this blog inspires you or annoys you leave a comment or email me directly at pat.rabbitte@labour.ie.

Rock The Vote is concentrating its campaign on younger voters, voters whose turnout rates in elections are seriously low. So when asked to contribute to this blog I was informed that the target audience was 18-35.

I have to say, I do cringe when politicians try to get 'hip with the yoof' as it is normally a recipe for disaster. I do remember when Tory Leader William Hague sported a baseball cap backwards or worse again when David Cameron asked that we all 'hug a hoodie'.

So, at the start of this series of blogs here are my thoughts on this. I won't be trying to show off my 'youth' credentials. They'll be no mention of my little known love of ipods, skateboarding, or the Arctic Monkeys. Patronising gimmickry is not the way to convince any voter, especially young voters, that they should cast their vote for you.

In this first blog on Rock The Vote I just want to tell you about my vision for Ireland.

I witnessed incredible changes in our economy and society in the past two decades. I'm excited about the future. I believe that if we grasp the opportunity before us now Ireland can become an even better country to live and work in.

However, we have a long way to go. Despite the wealth, despite our new found confidence we have not created a fair society. By a fair society I mean:

a society where everyone has an opportunity to succeed and to contribute

a society where there are more beds in clean hospitals

a society where pre-school education is available to all

a society where everybody has the opportunity to begin to buy their own home

That is the challenge before us now. And it is a political challenge. Over the coming weeks I'll be working night and day to convince people who believe in a fair society that they can trust the Labour Party to deliver on it.

I've published my 5 Commitments for Change for this election, I'll talk about them again here but you can log onto www.makeachange.ie and judge for yourself.

I believe that this election is one of the most important held since the State was founded. If you agree with me or not, just make sure you're part of it and use your vote."