George Lee TD, Aislinn Stanton Chair of UCC Politics Society & Deirdre Clune TD

Last night George Lee and myself launched UCC’s Politics Week at a meeting of the Politics Society. There was a mix of outrage at the politics of the past and hope for the future of politics in Ireland.

We were both delighted to be asked by Chairperson Aislinn Stanton and her committee to act as Vice President and President of the Politics Society.

George Lee spoke to the meeting about the reasons he entered politics and what he hoped to achieve.

He admitted that the main factor in his decision to enter politics was a deep feeling of outrage. He was outraged at how Government Ministers, Bankers, Financial Regulators and Developers conspired to run the Irish economy into the ground.

How the same people who encouraged the Irish economy to become dependent on property and refused to acknowledge the warning signs were now claiming that the country has turned the corner.

George believed that what the country needed was hope. Not the positive spin that is being repeatedly put out by Government spin doctors which everyone sees trough and no one believes. Instead we need to establish real emotional hope that people could believe in.

He expresses this hope as the buzz he feels visiting the Young Scientist Exhibition where he meets young talented people energised and interested which gives him an uplifting feeling that is hope for the future.

I have to admit as a annual visitor to the Young Scientist Exhibition I always share that uplifting feeling that the future of Ireland is in good hands if we look after the talent we have.

George expressed his belief that the first step towards our recovery has to be a focus on job creation and encouraging investment. Without these we will continue to see young people emigrating, tax revenue fall and the cost of social welfare increase.

I took the opportunity to speak about the need for a louder voice for women in politics. Political parties are the gateway into politics and I believes that the increased involvement of women in political parties will result in more women on local Councils and in turn more female TDs. Political Parties do need to encourage more women to stand for public office and this will be good for the political parties, women in Ireland and our system of Government as a whole.

The current economic crisis has awoken interest in politics and this will result in more people voting at the next General Election and that is a good thing.

In the 2007 General Election only 66.7% of the over 3 million Irish electorate voted. The over one million voters that stayed at home were more than the 950,000 that voted for Fianna Fáil and the Green Parties combined. If a large number of this section of society do vote they can have a major impact on the outcome of the next election.