The number one issue for us is electing a government that prioritises students – or that is at least aware of students’ issues, and young people’s issues. Our major concern is around fees and the funding of higher education, and in particular whether they’re going to bring in a loan scheme, rather than grants, to fund people through third-level education.

We’ll be asking every candidate about that, between now and the election. Fees have gone up, which is something we stand firmly against. We understand all about austerity – but it just seems that students have been among the hardest hit. The same is true of third-level education in general. The cuts have been vicious. There was an embargo on employing people, with massive cuts to grants, frontline services and capital funds: all of these took a really big hit.
Too many politicians are waxing lyrical about the recovery. Well, students and young people just don’t feel like that recovery is reaching them. If you look at the treatment of under 26s in the area of social welfare, they’re being punished for being young. It is as simple as that.
I think the government parties really need to listen to our concerns. Over the past few years, we have registered thousands of people to vote and we have a massive voting block ready to go to the polls. We already saw the difference mobilising students can make in the Marriage Equality Referendum. So I think it would serve politicians very well to actually take us seriously.
Students nowadays are politically engaged. They want to have their opinions heard. It is something we haven’t seen in Irish politics before – or certainly not for a long time. Politicians talk about how we’re going to make a “better future”. But for some mysterious reason they seem to ignore the young people who are going to build that future for this country.
The truth is that a proper value hasn’t really been placed on third-level education in Ireland. We talk about a smarter economy, we talk about the economic recovery and how that’s going to be driven by industry or by direct investment from foreign multinational companies. However, where are the workers going to come from to bring all of that to fruition?
Clearly, they are going to have to come from among the people who go through the education system and who’re properly skilled – and if the Government aren’t prioritising that, then it doesn’t add up. How can you say that we’re going to have a skill-based economy to boost the recovery, if you’re not going to listen to students, or would-be students, when they’re asking questions about how they acquire those skills?
Think about it. At secondary schools level, guidance counsellors are being cut. How are Leaving Cert students supposed to make good decisions about their future if they don’t have guidance? People end up not going to the right college courses. There is then a higher level of drop-outs, who are far more likely to end up on the dole. It sounds so simple – but if you don’t have guidance counsellors then, of course, more young people are going to be jobless.
We talk a lot about our values as a society. Well, how about we put a value on people’s futures – and prioritise that for a change? We have the second highest third-level fees in Europe. Why is education cheaper and better value elsewhere? It’s because they value education. And they value young people.
This idea that people who are on social welfare are lazy and people go to college to doss for a few years – it just isn’t true. Very often, people on welfare can’t get jobs. And they can’t get access to the skills-training to qualify for those jobs that are available. They desperately want to work and they want to contribute to society. People in college are also working incredibly hard. I went to college before the bust and then I went back to college afterwards, so I had two different experiences. The work ethic in college now is very different.
There’s massive pressure on young people. You’re told, in effect, if you’re under 26, that you must be lazy. Your parents must be paying for you. All of these things are not true. Thousands of jobs were lost during the recession. So why are people under 26, who cannot get jobs or who’ve lost jobs, being the most harshly punished by being given a miserable dole allowance?
But, of course, it’s not solely about young people. People of all ages return to education. We have mature students who go back to upskill, people who have lost their jobs during the recession who upskill, so that they can go back to work and contribute to the economy. Education is for all. Or at least it should be.
I am not going to tell people what party they should vote for. I think people need to scrutinise the candidates. Look up sites such as smartvote.ie – which is like the tinder for politics: you answer 30 questions and it matches you up to the candidate with the most similar answers to you. I want people to think about what it is they want to get out of this election – for themselves, but also for their fellow students, for the next five years and beyond. What do they value, what is important to them? If you value something like repealing the 8th Amendment, don’t vote for someone who doesn’t care about that. Decide what’s important to you and match that up to a candidate.
Above all, we want young people to make an informed decision – and to vote. Be careful out there.