Micheál’s influence with youth on the wane

IN one sense it was the kind of lateral thinking which has been sorely lacking, a refreshing change from the usual platitudes and carefully scripted doublespeak. But in another it spoke volumes of not just this Government, but Irish politics in general, of the chasm between those in power and the demographic they continue to ignore.

The thinking in question led Michéal Martin to ponder whether influencers could be used to communicate messages on behalf of Dáil Éireann, whether Instagram stars, TikTokkers and the Twitterati, could tell the young people of Ireland to stop having raves on football pitches in the middle of Dublin, parties on the streets of Killarney, and sessions in houses across the country.

In case you didn’t know, an influencer is someone – usually young and attractive – who gets paid to promote content online.

Ordinarily this just means wearing a nice pair of sunglasses, posting a few pictures on social media, telling your followers how great the glasses are, and waiting for the likes, and the cash, to roll in.

But given their social standing, their reach, influencers are now considered a worthwhile asset in the fight against Covid-19. In the UK for example, they are now being paid to promote the NHS’s test and trace system.

So yes, in theory, this is a good idea; the young people won’t listen to the boring old men in suits, but they might listen to someone from their own generation, someone whose opinion they have grown to trust.

One could point to the one major flaw in this plan; that these influencers would be getting to paid to deliver a message they may not even believe in or feel passionately about.

But since when did one’s belief system come into anything? For the right price I’d spend an entire column arguing the earth is flat (€50,000 if you’re offering).

The point is these people have influence, and if they can make a convincing argument about a pair of runners then they can probably do likewise with a face-mask.

Yet what is the Taoiseach if not an influencer? He may not have 60,000 Instagram followers or a contract with a top fashion brand, but surely Micheál Martin is the most influential man in the country?

Well no, that would be Leo Varadkar. But even the Tánaiste, replete with funky socks and Mean Girls quotes, can’t touch the hearts and minds of our 18-24 year-olds.

Nor, for that matter, could 23-year-old Fianna Fáil TD James O’Connor, or any of the other politicians born this side of Italia ‘90.

Because the young people of Ireland have long since learned that those running the country have no interest in what they say, what they think, what they want.

Sure, you’ll occasionally get lads like Simon Harris piggybacking on trending issues like the repealing of the eighth or the gay marriage referendum, but by and large I think they don’t give a shite about youngsters, and certainly not those who live in blocks of flats in inner-city Dublin.

Of course, this is not an issue unique to Ireland. There are very few nations capable of communicating effectively with their disaffected youth, with people who grow up in socially and economically disadvantaged areas and see politicians as the enemy.

But fewer still have suggested hiring what are essentially freelance marketers to do their bidding for them online, paying cash-hungry mercenaries to infiltrate an otherwise closed-off world.

No, if the young people of Ireland are to fully get on board it will have to happen organically. Curated content deftly slotted into their timelines may momentarily stop them in tracks, but it won’t alter their behaviour, won’t dissuade them from going to that session, that party.

The only effective tool is to expose them to virus – not figuratively, that would be a little extreme – via their peers, through people who have been affected by Covid-19 directly; the sons, daughters, grandchildren of those who have died.

If the Government are serious about conveying a message to our younger generation then it will have to forego subtlety in much the same way the Road Safety Authority has in its efforts to curtail dangerous driving. It will have to shock, it will have to appal, it will have to use every bit of influence its got.