Dan Boyle (Cork South Central, Green Party)

I do not know why Fianna Fáil fears young people so much but it has a history of disenfranchising them in various elections. When the Constitution was changed in 1972 to allow 18 year olds to vote, the then Taoiseach Jack Lynch held the 1973 election before the legislation passed on foot of the constitutional referendum took effect, thereby disenfranchising thousands of new voters.

That attitude is maintained to this day. Those who crunch numbers on behalf of Fianna Fáil have realised that growing numbers of younger people are less inclined to vote for Fianna Fáil. Twice in its history, Fianna Fáil achieved 50% of the vote and regularly in the 1980s it achieved levels of 48%. The Fianna Fáil component of this Government was elected with 41% of the vote and the likelihood is that after this election the figure will be somewhere in the 30% bracket.

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