The streets are lined with posters, radios are blaring policy pitches on repeat, and leaflets are being crammed through letterboxes. A general election is imminent, taking place on the 29th of November, and most notably for current students, politicians are spouting platitudes about how important the youth are to their movements and the future. For example, Young Fine Gael recently posted a reel to its Instagram in which a Fine Gael (FG) TD boasted that “the youngest member of his campaign team” is just 15 years old, with the said 15 year old standing next to him.
Clearly then, politicians care about the appearance of youth engagement, especially in the run up to a general election. But is it mere tokenism, or a meaningful exchange? What do young people actually look for in a party and what safeguards are there in place for these youths that are deemed so important to public politics?
Eoghan Gallagher, Chair of Young Fine Gael (YFG), spoke on what motivated him as a young person to join a youth party wing. He had “respect for difficult decisions that FG made that were necessary… I don’t necessarily agree with everything that Fine Gael did over the years, but I suppose that ability to not just take the populist route” is what attracted him. For Gerard O’Conner, President of Fianna Fáil Óigre, the appeal of Fianna Fáil (FF) was that they were “a broad church,” which welcomed a wide range of people who were “pro-business” but also cared for the vulnerable.
Others had more ideological reasonings. Patrick, Secretary of the TCD branch of Óigre Shinn Féin (SF), expressed that: “For me, as a Republican, it was never a question about what party I join; the only obvious choice was Sinn Féin,” due to their commitment to reunifying Ireland. Similarly, the People Before Profit (PBP) Chair of the TCD branch, James Ryan, was drawn to the radical structure of the party. “They accept reform as a means, but they are more radical than say the Social Democrats or Labour for example.”
“There’s a lot of things I disagree with, but you have to be inside an organisation to create change”
Conversely, UCD Labour Auditor Aaron Duke “had an inclination towards the Labour Party, but I didn’t really know why.” It was through getting involved with the youth branch that he gained confidence in Labour as a party. However, he is more drawn to policy than party loyalty; “I don’t love the Labour Party. There’s a lot of things I disagree with, but you have to be inside an organisation to create change…” This was a common sentiment throughout: the desire to affect change from the inside.
Less common was agreement on what changes will be most effective. Every party seemingly promises young people the same things: affordable housing, lower tuition, longer nights out. It becomes hard to distinguish what sets each party apart. Each person interviewed had their own opinion on what made their party distinctly worthy of young people’s votes.
For FG, Gallagher maintains that “the most important thing is that we have a strong economy,” and FG is the party with the best track record on this for him. Specifically, FG supports ‘second chance fees’ which could subsidise school fees even if you previously dropped out. Young FG have also made progress in “stamping out spiking” on nights out. They plan for the future and the immediate “unlike other parties,” in his view.
People Before Profit, as well as having “concrete” measures addressing housing and tuition fees, also have “a long list of very transformative measures to ensure Ireland does its part in combating the climate crisis.” Ryan also pointed out that PBP has been “at the forefront of support for Palestine” and it was originally their party which proposed sanctions against Israel.
FF Óige’s O’Connor was the only representative of any youth party to specify that “crime is a really big issue” for them. He also highlighted that FF “classify ourselves as republican.” While O’Connor acknowledged that “I think every party wants a peaceful system at this point in time,” he also stipulated “I think we have a level of maturity around [republicanism and cross border relations] that maybe other parties wouldn’t.”
“Labour has always been the party championing social rights: abortion rights, divorce rights and gay marriage rights,” according to Duke. Specifically for young people, they have been pushing for the abolition of sub-minimum rates of pay. “You do a day’s worth of labour, you should get a day’s worth of pay. It’s irrelevant of age, it’s irrelevant whether you’re in a family business or not.” Duke also noted that his local Labour TD Marie Sherlock has been working closely with the ‘Give Us The Night’ campaign on nightlife.
“The only way to get any kind of change in government is to make it Sinn Féin”
SF Óige’s message for young people was clear: “The only way to get any kind of change in government is to make it Sinn Féin.” Specifying that their policies go beyond just providing more affordable housing, Patrick spoke about investing in community developments such as parks and GAA clubs. SF also plans to make all prescription charges free. He also brought to attention SF’s “international solidarity, long-standing connections with the people of Palestine, Basque Country, etc.” He identified this with the phenomenon of hope amongst young people, which he felt SF reflects.
Hope, therefore, must be a motivating factor which allows these young people to canvas door to door in the cold for hours at a time. The interviewees from parties FF, FG and Labour explained that the majority of canvassing for general elections happens on a local level. Duke (Labour) spoke of how “genuine” the TD’s he has campaigned for are, and Gallagher (FG) spoke about how it is in TDs’ best interest to “maintain those relationships [between main party and youth wing] if you want people to support you canvassing come election time.”
However, within these relationships, the fundamental difference in power between acting TD or senator, and members of youth parties cannot be ignored. Members can range from 16-30 years old youth party wings, apart from SF Óigre, who recently voted to bring the age limit down to 26.
Youth politics has recently been in the news for unpleasant reasons. Namely, a scandal which rocked Sinn Féin, exposing inappropriate messages sent by TD Niall Ó Donnghaile to a child who was just 16 at the time, and a member of Óigre Sinn Féin. This raised a number of concerns, including the question of concern over how parties interact with young people, and to what end? The fact is: youth politics often involves young people being in community with politicians who are much older, and in positions of power over them.
When asked about if the recent issue in SF regarding Niall Ó Donnghaile’s conduct indicated any systemic issues within SF or youth politics, Patrick had this to say: “I don’t see it as a systemic issue at all. Once we receive complaints we take strict action.” He saw the media reaction to the issue as “overblown, and is a clear sign that the establishment are kind of afraid of a Sinn Féin government.” He also pointed to ex FG TD Patsy O’Brien as an example that there are universal issues, if any. Patsy O’Brien, as has only recently been revealed, was kicked out of FG in 2020 due to the sending of inappropriate messages.
“The thorn in the side of the senior party”
It would seem then, that the main strain on the interaction between youth and senior political parties occurs when the youth differ from, or feel unheard by, the senior party. Interestingly, it was only FF and FG representatives which alluded to times when “you have to break from your party.” As an example, O’Connor cited a vote of no confidence in Minister Helen McEntee, which the youth wing of FF called for, but the senior party did not. Gallagher describes how an unnamed minister jokingly referred to Young FG as “the thorn in the side of the senior party.” This sentiment did not carry over to SF.
When asked about breaking from the main party, Gallagher was firm: “I haven’t really seen tension in that [regard]. Generally, we all are in the youth wing because we support the views of the party.” At the same time, he was sure to maintain that people “are allowed to raise [their] opinions,” as the spirit of collaboration is important to SF as a young party. In a similar vein, Ryan on PBP’s communication with the youth wing stated; “I think there’s an important middle ground between a completely top-down approach and letting people do what they want without any information [from the main party].” Duke also expressed that people “wouldn’t join the Labour Youth if they didn’t align with the Labour values and policies.”
“There isn’t enough of a youth voice inside of the country”
However, in a broader sense Duke went further than his counterparts; emphasising the need “to bring up the youth voice as a whole,” as opposed to specific party loyalty. Speaking about decriminalisation and late licence policies for bars, he felt that “this is [policy] that should have been passed in the last government. They’ve been flip-flopping on it because they know they can, because there isn’t enough of a youth voice inside of the country.”
Can this be remedied? Each of the youth parties cite a close working relationship to TDs and ministers of the main party, and all insist that they (the youth wings) are listened to by the parties. However, regardless of these youth parties’ perceived impact on their official counterparts, there is still something wrong with these parties’ abilities to effectively implement policies that appeal to the young. A 2024 report for National Youth Council Ireland (NYCI) “over half of the population aged 18-29 can be classified as having ‘low mental well being.’” The report posits that this is a direct impact of areas of government policy failure such as: the housing crisis, the cost of living and lack of infrastructure for young people in community settings. This does not suggest a government that is engaged with its youth population.
For all the canvassing and campaigning efforts of youth wings, change is not yet being tangibly felt by the majority of the young population of Ireland. Perhaps this general election will shift that; maybe it will be the opposition’s turn to break or keep the promises they make to the youth. Or perhaps electoral politics is fundamentally flawed. Whatever the case may be, the members of youth party wings remain hopeful; maybe this time the thorn in the side of a party will become its greatest asset. For now, it all remains to be seen.
