Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

We have here a proposal from Government, originating from the Constitutional Convention, for involving young people in politics. The Government is able to find the time and the space for a referendum on this issue but has refused to provide a referendum for the much more urgently needed repeal of the barbaric eighth amendment of the Constitution.

We will vote in favour of this referendum but the argument made by the Government is based on two false premises.

Premise one is the idea that the Government, or any of the establishment political parties, seriously want people, in particular young people, to be involved in politics. I do not believe that they do. We can have all the reductions in the age of eligibility to allow people stand for election to the Office of President, all the civil, social and political education, CSPE, classes and all the hand-wringing about the need to involve people in politics that we want but the reality, as demonstrated in recent months, is that when people get involved in politics in significant numbers the Government is scared as opposed to welcoming. People have become involved in politics outside the framework that is safe for the capitalist establishment, which is people voting or simply standing for election and then a process of betrayal of promises and so on that we all know all too well. Instead, people have become involved in politics. Twenty-one year olds, 22 year olds, and younger, have become involved in politics in protesting against water charges, protesting and stopping water meter installation and in demonstrating their opposition to this austerity policy. For that, they faced State repression. This is a State that has stood over the dawn raids at teenagers' doors for participation in the peaceful protest in Jobstown. It is a State that saw four people jailed for a peaceful protest against water meter installation: people were protesting within 20 m of the meter installation going on. I do not believe the Government, or the establishment parties generally, are in any way serious about people actually being involved in politics. The real politics that is happening is street politics, campaigning politics and working class people power politics.

The second premise is the idea that the Government cares about or has an interest in young people. The reality is that this Government has waged a war against young people. We can consider the cutting of social welfare for those under the age of 25, which the Minister, Deputy Burton, just yesterday explained by saying this is a targeted measure aimed at protecting young people from welfare dependency. She said it aims to incentivise young jobseeker's allowance recipients to avail of education and training opportunities. One could not find a better example of a Tory argument being replicated by the Labour Party. We can consider the so-called student contribution charges, also known as registration charges, which are making third level education inaccessible. Despite the previous promises of the Labour Party, from 2015 to 2016 the maximum fee will be €3,000, which puts third level education out of the reach of many. Education cuts in general disproportionately hit young people, for example, the abolition of funds for postgraduate students. The housing crisis hits young people disproportionately, with high rents and no access to mortgages or council homes for people in their 20s. The result is that this Government has driven young people out of this country. In the course of the past five years, 165,000 have emigrated. The 15 to 29 year old age group fell from 23% to 18% of the population in 2014. If we consider the policy of JobBridge and the mandatory nature of that policy introduced by the Youth Guarantee initiative and the First Steps scheme, they are all about an attack on young people and normalising the idea of young people working for free.

Young people entering working life now face the prospect of working until they reach the age of 68 before they will be able to avail of a pension. We have had the attacks on the starting pay for teachers and nurses, which particularly affect young people, and we can reflect on the mental health impact of youth unemployment and the rise of incidents of suicide.

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