Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin North Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

One of the most important things we have in this Republic is the opportunity to vote and participate in elections. The Minister has announced that the date for the European and local elections will be 23 May. One difficulty we have in Ireland is with the disconnect between the electoral system and the population and the fact that many people do not believe politics is working for them. One point I have made previously several times relates to the crucial responsibility we have in this House to re-engage with the populace and ordinary people and ensure people recognise the connectivity between their vote and the influence politics can have over their lives. Unfortunately, what happens generally in political systems is that those who have power are those who are richer and who utilise their vote more often. The political establishment, political system or the body politic tends to move around these circles.

I have done some research on the matter and spoken to people who are politically involved in Australia. What is interesting about the political system in Australia is they have had compulsory voting for a long time. The interesting thing about electioneering in Australia is that campaigning happens in the poorest of areas and the richest of areas, it happens with the youngest people and the oldest people. Politics does not generate itself around middle class people who are middle aged, simply because they seem to have all the voting power. It goes everywhere, everyone feels empowered by it, everyone connects with it and everyone feels as if the politician or the political class will listen to what they have to say. We do not have that in Ireland.

What we will have in four months' time is an election in which the majority of people will not participate. Average voting rates in general elections are higher, but in European and local elections the rate is rather low. Why is that? It is because people take the view either that politics is not working for them or they have no connectivity with what the European Union does for them. They do not necessarily have connectivity with what the local council does for them either. What we have now is an opportunity, perhaps, given that we are in such turmoil politically, socially and economically, with this election to highlight to the people the importance and power of their participation. Those who know the power of their vote use it and tend to have more power and those who do not know or do not appreciate the importance of the franchise tend to lose out. I know this from the areas I represent and where I have worked extensively over the years. Certain people lose out because they do not vote in the same numbers. If people do not vote in the same numbers, politicians realise it and they know it is worthwhile to spend more time in an area where people vote rather than an area where people do not, or they will spend more time with a group of people who vote rather than a group of people who do not. I have in mind members of the Traveller community and immigrants. Such groups are often easy prey for politicians to criticise because they do not have the same voting power bloc others may have.

How are we going to re-engage with the people? How do we put it to them that the European Union is important and that, whatever their view of it and what has unfolded in recent years, it certainly has a major influence over all our lives? Why do half the people in Ireland not bother to show up and vote on election day? We should have a proper conversation not only about our connectivity with the European Union but about what type of European Union we want. I hope we can have an ideologically driven debate because too often this becomes a referendum on the Government or it becomes about tribal politics. What is our vision for the European Union? What kind of value system do we believe it should espouse? More important, how can the electoral commission that will potentially emerge from the Constitutional Convention ensure we reconnect with people who are so disconnected that either they do not care or they simply do not want to know? Given these powerful forces that engage in these decisions which affect all our lives, why is it that people are so turned off by the European Union or by elections in general? It is our responsibility to step up to the mark and this is a chance for us to do so. This is the first election in this governmental term to ask these questions of ourselves and perhaps to provide some answers for the future.

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