A task force should be set up to combat voter apathy in Dublin's inner city, according to a report published yesterday.
The study, which shows that voter turnout in the south-west inner city ranks among the lowest nationally, also recommends voter education and mobilisation programmes for the area.
The research, commissioned by an umbrella group, the South West Inner City Network, examines voter apathy and political exclusion in the area, which takes in parts of two Dáil constituencies.
Voter turnout there ranged from just under 21 per cent in a 1999 by-election to about 48 per cent at the 1997 general election, when the national average was 65.9 per cent. In the Nice Treaty referendum, turnout in the area was just under 30 per cent.
The report states that there are links between long-term low voter turnout and high levels of social deprivation, educational disadvantage, rented and local authority housing and single and separated people.
It also highlights a lack of awareness and understanding by some people in the area of the power of their vote to "lever positive socio-economic change".
The report's author, Mr Adrian Kavanagh, noted a general decline in voter turnout at general elections over the past two decades, from 76.2 per cent in 1981 to 65.9 per cent in 1997. Between the last two general elections, turnout fell most in city areas. This has consequences for the functioning of democracy at local and national levels, he said.
"You are running the risk of low turnout areas becoming increasingly marginalised politically. As they feel political disengagement, politicians don't work the area, then this leads to a vicious cycle of turnout decline," he added.
Recommended strategies in- clude voter education programmes in disadvantaged areas and greater visibility of local politicians, as well as practical steps such as better information on voting and more accessible election literature.