Little sign of apathy among galvanised but resigned youth

VIEW FROM THE CAMPUS:Emigration, jobs and increasing college fees are core issues among student voters

IRISH POLITICAL parties have struggled consistently to tap into the youth vote, which has long been regarded as apathetic.

But ahead of this general election it appears students have concerns they are planning to take to the ballot box. While most roads and streets around the country are plastered with political posters and messages, little around the UCD campus suggests an election race in full swing.

Despite muted campaigning many students say they are interested in this election – with emigration, limited job prospects and increased college registration fees all core issues.

“I know a lot of students are very unhappy with the way the country’s gone,” says David Bond (25) who intends to vote in the Dublin South West constituency.

“They face increased charges and a lack of job prospects . . . I think it is going to be a realigning election. I can see the Government getting heavily penalised and the likes of Labour and Fine Gael doing well.”

A poll by the UCD University Observernewspaper suggests this is a widely held opinion. It puts Labour on 24 per cent, Fine Gael and Independent/Others on 20 per cent, Sinn Féin on 11 per cent and Fianna Fáil and the Greens on 5 and 4 per cent, respectively.

Peter Harte (21), who intends to travel home to Dundalk to vote, is expecting political change but is sceptical about the impact a new administration will have.

“To be honest I haven’t been convinced that anybody who’s going to get in is going to make any sort of major change,” he says. “It seems one and the same.”

Harte believes the biggest concern among students is quite clear: “Obviously it’s emigration among our generation. I have a lot of friends who have moved away and there are plenty planning to [leave] when they graduate this summer.”

Jennifer Mellott from Templeogue, Dublin, is under the same impression: “I don’t think can really do anything . . . a lot of us are going to have to emigrate for jobs and I don’t think that’s something any government can fix in an election or in the next few years.”

The Union of Students in Ireland says its members are taking this campaign far more seriously than those of previous years and that emigration, jobs and rising third-level charges are the main issues nationwide.

Union president Gary Redmond estimates that 20,000 students registered to vote during a campaign the union organised, and that it “wasn’t a hard sell”.

“Young people have been accused of being apathetic . . . but that has changed for this election,” he says.

But Redmond feels the parties’ efforts in engaging with younger people are tokenistic and that their attitude towards the youth vote is “quite disheartening”.

“Students unions have extended invitations to politicians to come to their colleges but very few have taken them up,” he says.

The political parties say they are making an effort to reach out to younger voters. But aside from increasing their presence on social media sites like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, it appears they are doing little else.

This hasn’t passed unnoticed among UCD students. “I think it’s wise of the political parties to put more emphasis on Twitter and Facebook because the group most likely to have constant access is young people,” Bond says.

“But I don’t think they should see that as a substitute to knocking on doors and trying to have face-to-face chats.”

There are 200,000 would-be voters in college campuses nationwide and many students will be casting a ballot for the first time – meaning thousands of allegiances are up for grabs.

On Thursday night, Green Party TD Paul Gogarty, Labour TD Ruairí Quinn and Independent candidate Dylan Haskins participated in a debate organised by the UCD Law Society.

More than 150 attended the debate and the questions came from UCD Student Union president Paul Lynam and law lecturer James McDermott.

They focused on issues such as education funding and the Croke Park deal – leaving participants little scope to reach out and few in the crowd with a better idea of who they might vote for.

Later, Gogarty spent time talking to students about the EU-IMF bailout and other matters. “Colleges are disparate places and people from the same constituency don’t meet in the one spot for you to talk to them,” he said. “When you get a chance to talk to students they are receptive but . . . they aren’t really the ones you meet knocking on doors in the evening.”