YOUNG Irish men support Fianna Fail, want to be engineers and admire their mothers more than anyone else, according to an opinion poll published yesterday.
Youth 2000, a poll commissioned by the National Youth Council of Ireland (NYCI), also revealed that a third of young voters are either not registered to vote or have no intention of exercising that right.
Exactly 2,000 men and women between 15 and 24 were interviewed face to face at 75 locations around Ireland on their aspirations, voting intentions and the issues they consider to be important by a Dublin based market research company, Covanberg Consultants.
According to the NYCI president, Ms Jillian Hasset, the results have "exploded some myths about young people and raised concerns over their level of participation in political life".
Approximately 300,000 people have become eligible to vote since the 1992 general election, yet the survey found that a third of young voters were either not registered to vote or had no intention of voting.
In Northern Ireland, 9.6 per cent of eligible young voters were not registered in the Republic the figure was almost double that at 17.5 per cent. The reason given by 63 per cent of those who said they would not vote was that they were "just not interested".
Reflecting a more general trend, there are considerable numbers of "floating voters" among the young, with over a quarter of the respondents revealing that they still have not made up their minds how to vote.
However, there was good news for Mr Bertie Ahern in the poll, as 26.4 per cent declared their intention to vote Fianna Fail. Fine Gael fared considerably less well, earning only 10 per cent of the young vote. Labour, at I4 per cent, was the second most popular party.
The Greens, too, appear increasing popular among young people, with 7.6 per cent support. The PDs followed with 4.3 per cent and Democratic Left with 2.1 per cent.
Many of those surveyed in Northern Ireland said that if given the choice they would vote for British parties in the forthcoming election: 9.2 per cent said they would, vote Conservative and 8.3 per cent labour. Support for the SDLP was highest, at 19.3 per cent, followed by the Ulster Unionist Party (12.4 per cent), Democratic Unionist Party (12 per cent), Sinn Fein (8.3 per cent) and the Alliance Party (4.1 per cent).
When asked what they believed was the "most serious problem facing young people today", 40 per cent pointed to drugs and 36.8 per cent to unemployment. Crime was cited by 8 per cent, and 11 per cent in the North; 5 per cent in the Republic gave their answer as "Northern Ireland".
"Engineer" was the most common answer for males when asked "What occupation do you see yourself in 10 years' time?" Most young women said they wanted to be teachers, nurses or hairdressers. Good health was considered to be much more important than career, social life or money.
The ultimate accolade, however, was reserved for the Irish mammy, who came out on top when those surveyed were asked "Who is the person you most admire?" Mother came first, then father, followed by the President, Mrs Robinson, and the SDLP leader, Mr John Hume. Figures perhaps representing youth's more rebellious side, such as Liam Gallagher and Pamela Anderson, could only languish in the lower reaches of the top 10.