Restoration of Devolved Institutions essential for our Young People - Cllr Mark Dunn
Larne Borough Councillor and Young Unionist Chairman Cllr Mark Dunn, speaking at the launch of the Electoral Commission’s report on young people and political participation in Northern Ireland today, said that a return to devolution was an essential ingredient in increasing youth participation in the political process.
In a statement Cllr Dunn said,
“Northern Ireland is essentially a society which has had to endure politics without power. For several years Northern Ireland has had to function without an Assembly. Real decisions, which impact upon people’s everyday lives, have been taken by direct rule Ministers who mean nothing to young people in Northern Ireland.
“The absence of devolution has left a vacuum in power, which are MPs and MEPs have failed to fill. Our MPs and MEPs are relatively small fish in big ponds when they arrive at their respective Parliaments and cannot directly effect any one government or European decision that relates to this country.
“The only elected representatives, who of course act through the corporate body, in Northern Ireland who currently have any direct decision making or public revenue raising or expenditure powers, are local councillors sitting on our 26 district councils.
“Therefore it is not surprising that young people are not interested in the political process when local government is the only area with any real power. What young person is interested in the registration of birth marriages and deaths and the licensing of pets? Local Government only administers 4% of the Northern Ireland annual budget. Northern Ireland is overburdened with politicians without power.”
Cllr Dunn continued,
”Increasingly you find that if people go to university in Northern Ireland a proportion of students become politically aware for the first time when having the opportunity to meet what we call the two main communities, perhaps for the first meaningful time.
“When people start out in the world of work it is also not surprising that an interest in politics develops. I think you will find that most people who pay tax and local government rates care about where their money goes.”
Concluding Cllr Dunn said,
“I welcome the report as a valuable piece of research into how young people view politicians and politics in Northern Ireland. I do feel however that it will be difficult to keep many people interested in real politics until local politicians are given some real power. That is why devolution is so important to Northern Ireland.”