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Age worries for the mainstream parties
Read more about: Irish Politics, Youth
Reading this weekend’s Sunday Business Post, there was one article which focused on a major problem for political parties in Ireland - the lack of new members.
Political parties across Europe are losing active members, especially in urban areas where the highest number of seats to be filled exist. The reasons for this vary from place to place, but the more common ones are disillusionment with politics, busier lifestyles and the growth of single-issue campaigning organisations.” with the final advice being given as “For most of those candidates standing for a party and hoping for success at next year’s election, the core party membership will add very little to their efforts. Instead, any candidate with serious ambitions will motivate and organise their own personal supporters who, at best, will have a loose affiliation to the party. These `semi-detached’ party members are probably the best hope for the larger parties in keeping the remnants of their local campaigning activities alive. The nights of the thronged meeting in the back room of the pub are over.
I tried to puzzle out a definite rejection of the arguments laid out in the article and with enough experience in both youth, local and national aspects of a political organisation I’m afraid all I can say is that I agree with the advice given which reflects a rather sad state of affairs. In particular, I would have to agree with one comment made in the article by a former FG Senator who said “most meetings still involve a gathering of middle-aged to elderly moaners in a private room in a local pub or hotel” and wonder if they were talking about Limerick. I’ve talked before with several counterparts and collectively we agreed that it is probably time to adopt the US style campaign oriented organisation in Ireland for political parties as the core party memberships in main stream politics are becoming less important in elections due to the extent to which they are to a larger extend older (mid-40’s plus) and not really the ideal for a pro-active canvas team or election campaign. Candidates who recruit their family and friends can find a larger pool of younger and often naive but enthusiastic canvassers are available to them.
In America, its gone even beyond the campaign organisation to focus on leveraging modern communication broadcast channels such as the Internet and your mobile to reach out to extend your own organisation with people of similar viewpoints and to attract voters who are concerned by those issues (see this article). This change in Irish politics won’t happen today and won’t even happen by the next Local Elections but things could be rather interesting for General Election after the next one where these channels will be even more ubiquitous in society and where the core membership of many parties may simply be dead. Even Fianna Fail have realised its troubles with a previous internal report stating that their estimated actual membership was in the region of 15,000 to 20,000. The major factor which none of the reports with the exception of Gallagher’s and Marsh’s fine work “Days of Blue Loyalty” (which is also available for purchase unlike the myriad of other non available but oft leaked internal reports) cover is the growing age of these so-called core party members. This is definitely one area which all parties are going to focusing on both in the run up to the current election and beyond.
is it any wonder that political parties are having difficulty getting new members for canvassing etc
theres not much respect for the vote we have
how many eejits out there are too damn lazy to walk to the nearest school hall to vote
they cant be arsed - their excuse ?
they dont know the candidates -
they feel they should know loads before they go to the polls
dear god its never been easier they even have pictures of the candidates on the paper for them
they want to castigate the whole system but they dont bother their backsides
i’d walk all day on broken glass to vote a few times a year if necessary
its one of the few times you’re asked your opinion so give it
its about time that local authorities who are in charge of the polling lists the counting and all that
—that they had a good advertising campaign to encourage those who dont think it important
to vote to do so
like “use it or loose it”
use your vote or forfeit the right to complain about the tossers ……
there are many more people involved in local residents associations and focus groups anti- incineration etc because they actually get stuck into real issues ……….
use your vote or forfeit the right to complain about the tossers
That is a great slogan. If we ever do a get out the vote campaign I vote for that to be the slogan. Remind me if I forget.
simon- maybe not tossers ! but you know what i mean
the best political slogan although i disagreed with the concept was during a divorce referendum
hello divorce goodbye daddy
big white billboards red or black large lettering nothing else
you agreed with it or else
but you couldnt ignore it
i am sure there are plenty of modern buzz words that would attract attention or jokes
its a serious issue but humour could be very important…….
eg a lot done more to do is another one -maybe a play on that
how about ‘tick the box or shut up’
yes or something that sounds like that !!!!!
a good picture of the whole cabinet
the slogan ” would you buy a second hand car from these people ?”
or would you trust these people with your money ( tax)
No Moaning without polling?
i think “no moaning without polling “and
“tick the box or shut up” are contenders
but this could gather momentum
i know we all slag off some or even many elected reps but they are the peoples choice
so you have to respect the result…..get over it ( sometimes its mesmerising ?!!!)
I like the “no moaning without polling” and “tick the box or shut up” has a certain ring to it but it would be nice to find some way to get the voters wanting to be involved rather than dictating some more harsh and probably unjust phrases at them. If its simply about voting, lets follow the Italian and others from the continent and hit non-voters with a nice 5% tax by simply saying if you don’t vote in 4/5 elections you won’t be able to claim this 5% tax reduction otherwise you’ll just continue to pay taxes normally.
although the local authority puts notices in the back pages in newspapers asking people to register or to check the voting register at this time of year these notices are totally uninspiring they look like tender notices for drainage pipes
i am not familiar with political parties working up a head of steam about this either
its like they dont want to rock the figures in case it goes against them
but it has to be worth it that parties get a catchy poster put them up in local neighbourhood shops
or even get them onto the notice boards of schools with permission- post them
damn it if your not on the register you have no choices ……