MALCOLM BYRNE,
A chara, - Much play has been made of the claim that the Taoiseach was presenting a younger cabinet. Yet with an average age of 49, the 15 men and women around the table are older than the majority of the population. Just one Minister, Mary Coughlan, is under 40.
This is reflective of the Dáil, however, where there are just 23 TDs in their twenties or thirties. That represents 13 per cent, even though almost half of the electorate is in this age bracket.
That figure follows a trend in the ageing profile of our national legislature. After the November 1982 election, 33 per cent of TDs were under 40. In 1987, that slipped to 30 per cent and in the 1989, 1992 and 1997 elections, the fall continued to 29 per cent, 25 per cent and 20 per cent respectively.
The outgoing Seanad is often seen as a retirement home. Of its 60 members before the General Election, 22 are over 60 with just two under 40.
Similarly, with the Republic's European Parliament representatives, we have but one under 40, Brian Crowley, but seven over the age of 60.
While older public representatives can understand many of the concerns of young people, there are fewer and fewer voices who can speak with direct experience of the issues facing the young.
It is imperative that all political parties plan now to involve younger people to a greater extent within the political process and also to ensure that a significant number of young candidates will contest the local elections in two years' time. The challenge is to change the structures now to provide those opportunities. - Is mise,
MALCOLM BYRNE, Chairperson, Gorey Town Council, Gorey, Co Wexford.