Calls to re-establish Junior Council
FOLLOWING an embarrassingly low voter turnout at the recent by-election, Cllr John Hegarty was hoping to engage young people in local politics with a motion before Wexford County Council.
The Fine Gael councillor proposed they re-establish the Wexford Junior Council which had been run successfully in recent years, but fallen by the wayside. He called for the junior council to have a more defined programme for the year and to include the opportunity to debate, give feedback on council projects and speak at events that target young people.
‘I think it would be great to give young people the opportunity to see how the election process works with counts and transfers etc,’ Cllr Hegarty said. ‘I know we have done this before, but if we could look at giving it a little more structure, I think it could be really beneficial. Also I think it would be an idea to have some kind of chain of office. It doesn’t have to be anything expensive, it’s more symbolic.’
‘They can have mine!’ laughed Rosslare District Chairman Ger Carthy.
As the youngest member of the council, Cllr Cathal Byrne was in full support of the motion.
‘There’s often a large degree of apathy towards politics among young people,’ he said. ‘I think it’s often because there’s a lack of engagement. I think this is a really good idea and I fully support it.’
The motion received the unanimous support of the council chamber. Concluding the matter, Chief Executive Tom Enright said that the scheme had enjoyed some success previously, but had faded out. He said with the budget adding an additional staff member in the Communications Department, this project would be assigned to them and could hopefully be a success once again.