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“Register Where You Live, Lazy Students”
Read more about: Uncategorized, Vote Saturday
The most regular criticism of the petition so far (here and elsewhere) and I just want to clarify a few points about why this is not quite justified criticism.
Firstly, as a citizen I have spent the majority of the last five years in my home constituency of Kerry North. I have spent a sizeable minority of my time in Dublin and the rest elsewhere. The forthcoming five years are a mystery. I have no idea where I will be next year when I finish and have not decided whether to return home. Those factors alone meant that when I considered long and hard reregistering in the current area of Dublin in which I live, I decided against it.
Secondly, and related, over my time in University (like so many of my friends from the country) I have lived in more than one constituency. Most students do not live on the University campus and change rented accomodation from year to year. Since I didn’t spend any sizeable amount of my time in Dublin in any one constituency it made even less sense to re-register.
Third, this petition is not about students alone. There are far more people in cars all day on a Thursday making this country work. I think it is unfair on them far more than on students. I wouldn’t think of calling them lazy, and considering they spent the bulk of the last five years making the Irish economy great, it doesn’t seem too much to ask to facilitate them in deciding what day we vote.
Well said, don’t forget Thursday’s mean chucking thousands of primary school kids out of school
Personally, I think students and everybody else should be registered where they are living the majority of the time.
Furthermore, in the unlikely event this campaign is successful there’s a greater chance I won’t be able to vote.
And besides, if I didn’t register here I wouldn’t have got a nice letter from Bertie saying due to security arrangements at my apartment complex he might not get to meet everybody but will try his best!
Cian, my point above is that many students dont spend enough time in a constituency which isnt their home one to merit reregistering. I and others have lived in many since we moved to Dublin. Similar stories can be heard in most university towns.
Secondly it isnt just students this campaign is directed at.
I might email you the petition to give to Bertie, in case he does call round!
Is it fair for one of the main posters on the site to move a discussion onto a new post in order to attack the non main posters he disagrees with?
Personally, I think students and everybody else should be registered where they are living the majority of the time.
Furthermore, in the unlikely event this campaign is successful there’s a greater chance I won’t be able to vote.
And besides, if I didn’t register here I wouldn’t have got a nice letter from Bertie saying due to security arrangements at my apartment complex he might not get to meet everybody but will try his best!
And what happens then if a referrendum or election is held during a college holiday. This would mean that students would have to travel to their place of study to vote
You are legally required to be registered at your place of normal residence. Not at your Mammy’s house. Live with it.
CF its not really since i have in effect started a place for those to disgaree with me in the one forum. Its a dedicated thread for those who disagree, rather than three or four going on at once.
Keith I appreciate that but for renters is that a re register every September and change again in May only to change again in September? An normal residence in Dublin, Cork etc. could span more than one constituency.
Will the people currently demanding that students (and other renters) register at their rented address rather than their home address be the same ones who complain about the inaccuracy of the resulting electoral register?
I’d venture that a good many renters move house more often than once a year. Certainly my experience of living in a block of flats was that people might appear and then move on after a couple of months or even weeks. Trying to maintain an accurate register in that sort of situation is impossible.
Cian, I understand what you are saying. I just don’t fully agree with it.
Whatever about any legal require as pointed out above, there’s generally more logic for students to vote where they usually live.
For starters, the issues that affect them most will be connected to where they live most. Secondly, from my experience the vast majority of students in Dublin will stay in Dublin after they finish their course.
Students moving location and electoral boundaries isn’t much different then someone in the workforce doing so. Most will live in the same place for at least a year or a collage term, which is plenty of time to register.
As for the general population, I think Bertie is correct to say that that a large amount of people who live in Dublin regularly leave for the weekend (back to their hometown, to the holiday/second home, just on a break, or whatever). If voting were on a Saturday it would affect these groupings too.
But in saying all of that I am speaking generally and, while I think most would be better off voting where they study, I would be supportive of students who want to register at their parents address.
Paddy Matthews; you couldn’t possibly be suggesting that non-student renters be registered at an address other then where they live. If so, that’s a quite strange statement.
Hi Cian, I completely fail to see any logic in setting up a seperate thread as a place to voice opposition to YOUR belief that the election should be held at a time that suits students. The only possible reason to move opposition to another area is that you have effectively put a box around those who disagree with you and shut them away into a place where you can direct your media friends on newstalk etc away from when you send out links. This is a subtle attempt at censorship. If you do not like the comments being entered on your posts then you should not allow comments. Welcome to Irishdictatorship.com
Ah come off it, irishdictatorship.com? Having a post here hardly stops people disagreeing elsewhere. This post is hardly hidden from anyone who gets to the site and it isnt just students that we set this up for.
There is nothing stopping anyone who disagrees from commenting, as they have, on the other posts, the other sites that mention it and the petition itself. It was certainly not an attempted censorship, indeed I (perversely it seems) thought that having one thread would allow more people to come into the debate, rather than one person here and another there. I did so in the vain idea that it might set up a debate. Sure I might be wrong I dont think so. It would be disingenous of me to pretend otherwise.
If you do not like the comments being entered on your posts then you should not allow comments.
If i didnt like comments, i wouldnt have posted my reasons. Nor set up the site. Nor put my name to them.
voice opposition to YOUR belief that the election should be held at a time that suits students.
So could you please answer why these following things one by one. why they are better.
1.) If an election is held on thursday 100,000s of school children will be put out of school as opposed to Saturday when no kid is put out of school. Why is this better.
2.) Studies consistently show more people vote on weekends not Thursdays. So why have the election on Thursdays.
3.) 100,000s thousands of people commute massive distances each day not getting back to their home constituencies untill 8-9 O’Clock at which tie they have to feed the kids and themselves. At which time polls are closed. Why is that better then people being able to vote at their leisure on a Saturday.
4.) All the debate has been so far about how students should register where they study. Not one single arguement has been made about why Thursday as opposed to any other day in the week it the optimal day in the week to hold an election. It is no use saying people should get off their arses. The day picked for the election has to be THE BEST day the optimal day for an election. Give me one reason why Thursday is the best day for an election.
Paddy Matthews; you couldn’t possibly be suggesting that non-student renters be registered at an address other then where they live. If so, that’s a quite strange statement.
I’m talking here about the sort of people who have just finished college or who are on their first job and who aren’t yet settled long-term in Dublin or whatever other area we’re talking about.
I’m suggesting that both student and non-student renters in general are better off registering at a permanent address - if they have one - than at an address which may change at irregular intervals and which will involve the administrative hassle of getting removed from the register at the old address and onto the new address. (Yes, I know that you have to do this procedure for the likes of gas and electricity as well, but the electoral register will be a much lower priority for most people than the basic necessities of life.) Having “ghosts” on the register in blocks of flats is just asking for trouble.