CEANN COMHAIRLE John O’Donoghue has admitted that the activities of some politicians have damaged politics and helped breed disillusionment among voters.
Mr O’Donoghue made his comments at the University of Limerick last night during a public lecture entitled Why Politics Matters. According to Mr O’Donoghue the disenchantment with politics cannot just be attributed to changes in society, “some of it of course is down to politics and politicians”.
“The activities of a very small number of politicians have served to, unfairly, taint the whole system and at the same time alienate many people. Not only have these people through their abuses of their positions, brought shame on themselves, they have helped to breed disinterest and disillusion among voters and visited damage on politics,” he said.
During his address Mr O’Donoghue said the global economic events of the past few months had brought a new focus on the relevance of politics and democratic parliaments.
He said the falling electoral turnout over recent years was proof that the importance of politics had faded during the period of great prosperity.
At the last general election, 67 per cent of those registered to vote did so, compared with 76 per cent in 1969, he revealed.
Mr O’Donoghue said he has met a range of representative bodies to encourage people to connect with the work of the Oireachtas. “I have visited schools up and down the country with other members of the Oireachtas . . . We are bringing politicians and politics and the parliamentary system into . . . our schools,” he said.