Oireachtas

TDs in call for action to combat election apathy

Using pop stars and celebrities in media campaigns to encourage people to vote was among the measures suggested by TDs to improve…

Wed Jun 16 1999 - 01:00

Using pop stars and celebrities in media campaigns to encourage people to vote was among the measures suggested by TDs to improve voter turnout at elections.

Ms Mary Hanafin (FF, Dun Laoghaire) and Mr Paul Bradford (FG, Cork East) called for urgent action by the Minister for the Environment, Mr Dempsey, to combat the public's apathy at election time.

Raising the issue on the adjournment, Mr Bradford suggested that it might be time to consider compulsory voting, which operated in some other European jurisdictions.

He said that last Friday was a "very bad day for society" when half the population did not vote.

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The Minister of State for Environment, Mr Danny Wallace, said that nobody could state with any degree of certainty what the cause of the low turnout was.

He stressed that the decline in turnout was not uniquely an Irish phenomenon and that Ireland was in line with the EU average of 49.4 per cent.

He said that a review of the electoral system was currently under way by the Oireachtas Committee on the Constitution and he hoped that its report would "provide a basis for an informed public debate on our electoral system and the scope for reform".

Ms Hanafin recommended a range of measures to encourage voting from using pop stars to introducing two-day voting such as Friday evenings to Saturday lunchtime.

She said that a student had told her that voting was a "nerdy" thing to do. It should be promoted so that it is a "natural, civic and popular thing to do".

Ms Hanafin also called for the Government to fund media campaigns to encourage voting and to issue a non-party voting guide with a mock ballot paper on it to explain the process to the electorate.

Multiple elections on the same day should be avoided, particularly when voters were required to vote in different ways on different ballot papers.

The text of the constitutional amendment should be printed on the ballot paper and not just the name of the Bill. A list of candidates should be written on the polling card as well, she added.

"It is the duty of the democratic system to promote democracy, and apathy is the greatest concern," she said. "It is our duty as politicians to encourage participation in the electoral system. Democracy is about choosing our representatives and not choosing whether or not to vote."