Greater student engagement following #MarRef

The success of the recent marriage equality campaign has led to greater political engagement by third-level students which should translate into votes cast at the next general election, USI president Kevin Donoghue has said.

More than 10,500 students registered to vote over just two days last month in the latest USI sponsored voter registration drive. The campaign was so successful that organisers ran out of registration forms in several colleges.

Mr Donoghue said he was hopeful the response to the registration drive, which was held in 24 colleges and campuses across the country, will translate into more votes cast at the ballot box when the next general election is held.

He said the union has noticed a significant difference in student engagement this year.

“I’ve been doing voter register drives for years with the USI and I’ve never seen anything like this,” he said.

“We had people coming up [to us] on the day saying I’ll do this class or that class.”

The primary issues identified ahead of the election by the USI surround third-level funding, unpaid internships, quality of education and the campaign to repeal the 8th amendment.

“We won’t endorse a party but each student union has told us what they want. We’ll be identifying the issues and where each party lies on the particular issue.”

In previous years the Government has been criticised for holding the election on a Thursday, which made casting a vote more difficult for students who lived away from home.

On this occasion, the USI has encouraged students to register where they attend college.

“We encouraged people to vote with the address they have while they attend the college for two reasons. One, it gives us a higher concentration in particular constituencies and two, it doesn’t matter what day [the election] is on.”

“I would prefer if it was on a Friday or on a weekend as it would give people the opportunity to travel if they want, but I don’t care what day they call it - we’re definitely going to vote.”

Mr Donoghue said the USI is "very happy" with how the registration drive has gone so far.

“We registered 10,000 last month. We registered 40,000 directly last year in the run-up to the marriage equality referendum."

In the previous two years, Mr Donoghue said the union  would have registered "in the region" of 15,000 each year.

"Fifteen thousand over the period of an entire year compared with over 10,000 in two days is a big difference. We are running out of people to register.”

Mr Donoghue said some colleges are nearing full registration.

“UCC is a good example and NUIG is another example where it doesn’t make sense [to organise a registration drive] because they are all registered," he said.

Since the marriage equality referendum was held in May, it seems student interest in politics has not waned.

"It has continued and it has grown. People are more interested; people are more in the know. People already know what the issues are. They already know where the parties are."

"I think [the referendum] is what catalysed people into thinking they can change things"

“It definitely activated something.”

The end of November marks the end of the current USI registration campaign and the beginning of a new phase of engagement on the issues faced by students today.

As the country’s political parties gear up for the election they will doubtless keep a close eye on the student body as voting day approaches.