Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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I thank both of our witnesses for their written contribution. I feel a little bit nostalgic, because this will be my last committee meeting of any kind after 42 years in the Oireachtas. I am going to be conceited enough to believe that I have some understanding of the workings of democracy, not only as a representative for 42 years, but being dependent, on very regular intervals, on testing my connection with the people by putting my name on a ballot paper, which is the most direct way. As my friend and colleague, President Michael D. Higgins, said to test the love of the people is an important part of seeing how popular one is. I am struck by a number of things Dr. Cohen said. First, she said someone told her recently that the Government does not trust working class communities. It is a very profound statement, but I do not think it is representative. Some of us are in daily contact with working communities.

My constituency office is in the heart of working-class Wexford. I deal with the problems of FAB Community and Family Resource Centre, which deals with the most vulnerable people in the community. Obviously, I am not a representative of the Government but there is an intimacy between politicians in Ireland that is almost unique, in my experience. This is because of our electoral system which requires people to put a mark directly opposite a named candidate, as opposed to voting for a list - which is in the control of a political party - or simply voting for a party. In general terms, from experience, I would challenge the assertion that there is a disconnect. One of the purposes of this discussion - which unfortunately will not be a series because of the timing - is to look at not so much, disconnection from politics. Again, in my experience, young people in particular are much more focused on issues than the bland question of whether they are interested in politics. They are not interested in party politics by and large or politics per se but if we went out on the streets today and asked people if they were interested in what is happening in Gaza, I think we would get very strong responses. That is politics and what is happening there is a political issue. Another example is what is happening to the climate. Young people are very animated about this issue and I hear them, see them and speak to them all the time about it. This is in opposition to the bland question of politics qua politics.

The real issue I want to get Dr. Cohen's perspective on is this. We have discerned, across Europe and probably across the world, a noticeable change in public attitudes, post Covid. Something has changed with the rise of the right and the questioning of truth, the establishment of alternative truth and people cocooning themselves in their own perspective, to be reinforced. The question for democratic politics is how do we overcome that.

Finally, this is an observation rather than a question. I was speaking to my colleague in the European Parliament yesterday. He is still shocked that the Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orbán, made a completely reactionary speech to the European Parliament and 200 Members stood up to applaud him. That is almost one third of the membership. Ideas about how we come to grips with that new phenomenon is what I hope would come from these discussions.