Background to the Research

• This report is based on a research project which ran from February to April 1996, in which young people were consulted about politics in Northern Ireland.
  

Research Approach

• In the first phase 3000 questionnaires were distributed, at over 90 sampling points throughout Northern Ireland, to young people between the ages of 14 and 24. A total of 1,300 young people, 653 women and 647 men completed questionnaires. Most respondents were aged between 16 and 20. After a primary analysis of the data, focus groups were established to explore further the main themes emerging.
  

Main Findings

• 48% of the sample were Catholic and 42% members of Protestant denominations. One in ten of the young people said they had no religion.
• 49% of respondents said they were middle class, 46% said they were working class and a little under a quarter said that the head of their household was unemployed. Catholics were more likely to describe themselves as working class and to report the head of household as unemployed.
• 39% of respondents described themselves as Irish, 23% as British and 22% as Northern Irish. Not surprisingly, national identities were linked to religion. The Northern Irish identity tended to be chosen a little more frequently by Protestants than by Catholics.
• 35% of respondents described themselves as nationalist and 28% as unionist. A little over a quarter of the entire sample said they were neither nationalist or unionist.
• The survey suggests that very few young people are actively involved in political organisations. Fewer than 40 of the entire sample said they were members of a political party or trade union.
• To the limited extent that young people were involved in political groups, clearly they preferred campaigns to the older-style organisations: there were four times as many young people involved with campaigning groups as with political parties or unions.
• Only 12% of the small number of young people in employment were members of a trade union.
• A link emerged between gender and political involvement. While only 3 per cent of the sample were in a political party, this applied to 5 per cent of young men but only 1 per cent of young women. By contrast, 13 per cent of young women, as against 11 per cent of young men, said they were involved with a campaigning group.
• The sample did not give top marks to politicians or parties for their performance. Over half though politicians in Northern Ireland did not do a good job; fewer than one in fifty though they did a very good one.
• Only one in five respondents thought political parties do a reasonable job addressing the concerns of young people, whilst almost four out of five thought they did not address the needs of the young.
• Catholics were somewhat more likely than Protestants to say that politicians were not doing a good job (56 per cent as against 45 per cent).
• Three quarters of the sample said they were very or fairly interested in what is happening politically in Northern Ireland and more than half said they would like to be more involved in the political process.
• The proportion who said they were interested in Northern Ireland politics was high among a number of sub-groups, including those at university (91 per cent), the employed (86 per cent), those at school (80%) and those at further education colleges (79 per cent). By contrast, only 62 per cent of those who were on government training schemes were interested in Northern Ireland politics, a view echoed by only 50 per cent of the small number of unemployed in the sample.
• A little over two in five young people agreed that their vote did not count for much; only slightly fewer disagreed.
• Almost three in five respondents agreed that the situation in Northern Ireland made it difficult to be involved in politics.
• More than three-quarters of the sample agreed that young people did not have enough influence over political decisions.
• The main conclusions of this survey are unequivocal. Young people feel alienated and let down by politicians and political parties. They do not feel their interests or concerns are being addressed. To the limited extent that they are active in politics, it is more likely to be through campaigning groups rather than traditional social movements. Young people feel marginalised from the political establishment, not because they are marganlised from politics; they feel excluded, but want to be included.

The full Chapter and a copy of the full Report can be found on the Cain website.