CORK RTC STUDENTS have selected students' union president Matty O'Callaghan as their candidate for Cork South Central in the upcoming general election, as the college continues to apply political pressure in the wake of the redesignation of Waterford RTC.

Following a selection meeting last week's Callaghan defeated the only other candidate, Micheal Martin - cousin of the Fianna Fail education spokesman who is also, spookily, called Micheal Martin - by 667 votes to 83.

According to O'Callaghan, even if the Minister for Education does give Cork "Institute of Technology" status there is no guarantee that this will lead to the withdrawal of his candidacy. "The longer it takes to come up with dates, commitments and timescales, the harder it will be to take the candidate out," he says.

O'Callaghan points to the profile of the constituency, where, he says, 33 per cent of voters are aged 18 to 25, with the majority of these having no set political preference. With this in mind, he plans to run a campaign based on a larger range of youth issues, including drugs and funding in education. "Let's not be dictated to by guys of 40 or 50 years of age on policies that we know more about," he says.