Unlike many people of my generation I am not politically apathetic. I care; I really do, to the point that it stresses me greatly to witness the current political situation in this country.
In this I differentiate between political apathy and civic engagement. Many people are engaged in civic activities but the vast majority see that as removed from Oireachtas politics, of which they have little working knowledge.
I’m mid-30s. My closest friends are all of similar age, all are extremely well educated and all are in professional careers, yet not one of them would claim to have a working knowledge of the Oireachtas or the legislative process.
If you don’t understand the processes then you cannot understand the reason for the status quo and so the attitude that nothing changes becomes acceptable. People don’t realise it is within their gift to change the status quo.
A survey conducted by the Central Statistics Office after the 2011 general election concluded that young people were considerably less likely to vote than their older counterparts. Six per cent of young voters surveyed said disillusionment with politics was their primary reason for not voting. More than 10 per cent claimed to have no interest in political issues, while 3 per cent cited a lack of information as their reason for abstaining. 45 per cent of those in the 18- 34 age category said they did not vote in the 2011 general election because they were not registered.
Obscurity and elitism
The apathy that those of us in politics so decry is a by
product of the way we do politics in this country. The obscurity, the elitism, the distance between the Oireachtas and the ordinary citizens, and the most centrally controlled executive in the western world, ensure politics appears to be at one remove from ordinary citizens and their daily lives.
I grew up listening to my dad telling people that they needed to learn to care about politics because it influences the very air we breathe. He was right. It does, and to say you don’t care about politics is to take a back seat and allow someone else to drive you where they want to go. It’s too late when you get there to realise you had a different destination in mind: you should have stood up and said it before you allowed the train to hijack you.
If you rely only on the media narrative of the day to give you a kind of peripheral idea of what might be going on politically then you are doing not only yourself a disservice, but society as a whole.
Abdicate responsibility
If we all abdicate responsibility and let someone else drive the train, then who drives the train? And where do we all end up? I’m not asking that you step up to drive it, but I am asking that you rigorously question the driver and ensure he/she has a map to take you where you want to go. If not, then you seek change. That’s the beauty of democracy.
So what to do? A good starting point is education. The “civic, social and political education” (CSPE) course currently offered in schools was made obligatory for the Junior Certificate cycle in 1997. Eighteen years ago. Yet only three years ago the CSO survey found that 45 per cent of young people were not even registered to vote. Something is clearly not working.
The CSPE curriculum is an overarching syllabus espousing general ideals about active citizenship in the context of human rights and social responsibilities. The Department of Education recommends that a total of 70 hours is given to it over the course of three years. It’s not enough. There must be a rigorous and thorough political education offered throughout both primary and secondary school which allows people to understand exactly how our parliament works – the nuts and bolts.
There is more, of course, but that would be a very healthy start.
If people understand the basics they may begin to question the reasoning. When people question the reasoning for the status quo, we find ourselves in a healthy democracy and surely that’s a desire that even the most apathetic among us, must share?
Anne-Marie McNally is communications manager with Independent TD Catherine Murphy