WIT YFG - Stand up and be counted campaign

Sully

The WIT Young Fine Gael branch did a small campaign on the main campus a few days ago entitled "Stand up and be counted". The campaign was aimed at WIT Students to encourage them to sign up to the Electoral Register which would allow them have their say in the upcoming Local & European elections, all future elections and votes (treaty's for example - the upcoming Lisbon Treaty II). Due to lack of availability of helpers and flyer's, the campaign was only run once in the main campus. The main campus still has the posters up (as of Friday) regarding the campaign and more information.

As advertised in the WIT Campus Times by the USI (Union of Students Ireland) the current government are "hitting students hard" and students should "hit them where it hurts: The Ballot Box"

- Registration fee increase €1,500
- Proposed reintroduction of tuition fees (wont be discussed until AFTER the election, to avoid the wrath of the electorate!)
- A miserly student grant (which takes ages to arrive, is very hard to apply for in terms of whats required and what you can get)

Due to this government's callous attack on students, the Union of Students in Ireland is urging all Ireland's 200,000 students to vote in the upcoming local and European elections on the 5th June. Vote against the government

See the Guide to Registering to Vote on the Politics Forum or visit www.yfg.ie/register (its terrible, use the first link instead!).

alpha2zulu

Due to this government's callous attack on students, the Union of Students in Ireland is urging all Ireland's 200,000 students to vote in the upcoming local and European elections on the 5th June. Vote against the government

Out of interest , what exactly is the Fine Gael line on the issue of college fees.


Fine Gael and Fianna Fail policies arent usually lightyears apart and cant see how the free fees party can continue in its present form with the current state of the public finances, no matter which party is in power.

Hopefully the Young FG campaign isent just a cynical way to muster up extra votes at the June 5th elections.

Sully

alpha2zulu wrote: »

Out of interest , what exactly is the Fine Gael line on the issue of college fees.

Ill give you a few links which will cover it in more detail and better then myself.

See;
http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/0318/education.html
http://www.finegael.ie//PubUploads/3rdway.pdf
http://www.finegael.ie/news/index.cfm/type/details/nkey/36987

Hopefully the Young FG campaign isent just a cynical way to muster up extra votes at the June 5th elections.

The idea of the campaign was to create more awareness with students on registering to vote and how to go about it. We gave an information leaflet covering a lot about this. There is a good chunk of students who are not registered or have very little interest in politics. Those who do wish to register or have a small interest are often unsure how to go about it.

The campaign was to remind people that its their future that is at stake and they should have their say in who they want to run the country. Whether it by FG, FF, Labour, Greens, Sinn Feinn etc. They should also have a say when it comes to important votes such as the Lisbon Treaty. While things may not effect them right now, their future very much does.

I also suggested to the city YFG branch they shoud also do a similar campaign but I have no idea what the outcome of that proposal was. No other youth branch, if I recall, has done this. There were campaigns I think previously but I am unsure why they are not active for these elections.

alpha2zulu

Cheers for that,at least it gives an idea of where they stand...and FF deserve the biggest ass whooping on June 5th anyway particualarly after the lynching of John McGuinness last week;)


While I still feel from that RTE site piece that they are not a million miles away from the FF position.

deferred graduate contribution scheme is something that the party hopes to reach an agreement on with Minister for Education Batt O'Keeffe.

However....

As advertised in the WIT Campus Times by the USI (Union of Students Ireland) the current government are "hitting students hard" and students should "hit them where it hurts: The Ballot Box"

...if the USI think there gonna have a easy ride in a FG administration they could be in for a nasty surprise.Everybody, not just students will continue to be hit hard no matter whos in power over the next few years.

Sully

I think the USI were making the point that the current government are not going about these things in a fair way and while they understand everybody needs to be hit they want it done in a fair and better way, which FF are not doing. On the flip side, USI are not plugging any particular party. Just saying to send a message home to FF.

WIT students and those within the South East will probably be annoyed at the lack of movement on the University issue which is FG policy (if they get into government, they will upgrade WIT). So, that might hit them a little also. Also, Waterford Crystal workers who are in the process of taking the government to court and have made the point about the lack of interest the government has taken in the issue.

Plus, its time for a change anyway. Its never healthy to have the same party in government all the time. We have been brought down this path before, FF didn't take full advantage of the boom, the current government seems to be falling apart and cant seem to hold itself, and they don't seem to be willing to bite the bullet and sort the mess out.

stick-dan

Sully wrote: »

I think the USI were making the point that the current government are not going about these things in a fair way and while they understand everybody needs to be hit they want it done in a fair and better way, which FF are not doing. On the flip side, USI are not plugging any particular party. Just saying to send a message home to FF.

WIT students and those within the South East will probably be annoyed at the lack of movement on the University issue which is FG policy (if they get into government, they will upgrade WIT). So, that might hit them a little also. Also, Waterford Crystal workers who are in the process of taking the government to court and have made the point about the lack of interest the government has taken in the issue.

Plus, its time for a change anyway. Its never healthy to have the same party in government all the time. We have been brought down this path before, FF didn't take full advantage of the boom, the current government seems to be falling apart and cant seem to hold itself, and they don't seem to be willing to bite the bullet and sort the mess out.

As much as i hate the current government what you said above about fine gaels aims is a bit far fetched. I'm sure they are the lesser evil of the two parties mentioned, i mean we definitely can't get any worse of a government and i would be all for fine gael getting into government but they can't definitely promise that they will upgrade wit. I don't want to draw this onto the thread of wits upgrading to university status but this is their ploy to attract votes in the south east. This is done before every election we all know this.

Sully

stick-dan wrote: »

As much as i hate the current government what you said above about fine gaels aims is a bit far fetched. I'm sure they are the lesser evil of the two parties mentioned, i mean we definitely can't get any worse of a government and i would be all for fine gael getting into government but they can't definitely promise that they will upgrade wit. I don't want to draw this onto the thread of wits upgrading to university status but this is their ploy to attract votes in the south east. This is done before every election we all know this.

Its party policy. Its offical party policy. Its different to going around on the campaign trail making empty promisses. Its different to what we hear from FF every time an election comes up - they have always broken promisses but neither promise has been party policy.

We have had the FG spokesperson for Education down in WIT a few months ago as was Enda Kenny with the directors of the college. They have assured the people of the South East that its party policy and that it will be done when they get into government.

It would be very unlike FG to make all these promises - such as the education and health service announcments - and then fail to get behind it when they actually get in. If they did that, I can guarntee you the party would receive such an uproar that it would make things very unstable.

Besides, that promise was made before things got rocky in FF and a possible election was on the cards.

stick-dan

I actually didn't know that thanks for the info