DÁITHÍ DE BUITLÉIR (22) didn’t set out to become a standard-bearer for a new movement of socially active college students.
“Basically, I was like any of my peers,” he says. “Totally disengaged, disillusioned and apathetic towards politics.”
It was only when de Buitléir, who is studying business and Irish at Dublin City University, set up an Irish-speaking GAA club in college that he had a light-bulb moment.
“I was chair of the club and it got me thinking: if, at 20 years of age I can help set all this up, what could we all achieve as a generation? That was a transformative experience.”
The result is Rag (Raising And Giving) Ireland. Its aim is to harness the power of students across the State to make a positive impact on society through volunteering, fund-raising and awareness campaigns.
The society, co-founded with fellow student Ronan Ó Dálaigh, started off in Dublin City University. Given its success, the group is planning to establish similar ones in other colleges and universities over the coming months.
Instead of just another do-gooder group, it involves having old-fashioned fun. It has organised an “underwear mile”, white-collar boxing and cringe-inducing Christmas jumper competitions as a way of attracting students to get involved in a range of other activities.
A key obstacle is that many young people feel they don’t have a role or a voice, he says. While they can be high achievers in education, most feel disconnected from politics and society. His group is trying to break that cycle of inaction. “For example, a third-level student that’s studying actuarial maths might feel he can’t do anything to help society. But think what he can do by mentoring kids doing their Leaving Cert in a disadvantaged area.”
He can’t be accused of lacking ambition. He estimates there are about 160,000 students. If everyone volunteered an hour of their time, it would be the equivalent of 4,000 full-time posts working to improve society, he says.