Have you lost your job? Have your working hours being reduced? Are you struggling to make ends meet? Were you self employed and out of work and fighting the system to get assistance from the State? Are you afraid that you won’t be able to afford to go to third level? Is the pension levy crippling you? Are you happy with the status quo? Do you think the Government are doing a good job? Could they do better? Who could do better? Are they all the same?
These are just a few of the questions going through people’s minds ahead of the June local and European elections.
If you’ve thought about how this recession is affecting you, your family, and friends, you can affect change by voting. Alternatively have you noticed that the road outside your house has been widened and repaired recently, or your group water scheme has been upgraded, or have you recently been granted planning permission? If you think your local councillor is working for you then you can thank them with a number one.
Whatever your political persuasion, whatever your vision of how Mayo should and could progress, you have the power to elect the council you wish to serve you for the next five years by casting a vote.
Voting is a right and a privilege. It’s something that generations fought to secure. It’s something that we are entitled to do and something that we should give careful consideration to.
By relinquishing the right to vote you are giving up the right to criticise. There is nothing more annoying than hearing couch politicians musing over how they would do things better and then they don’t bother to even vote. Have your say. It may not go your way. But at least then you have earned the right to scrutinise how your council is working for you.
If you are old enough to vote in the June elections you are advised to check the register of electors to ensure you are included. You can check the register at www.checktheregister.ie Anyone who finds he or she is not registered has until May 18 to be listed on the electoral register. You can do so by completing an application form (RFA2 ) for inclusion in the supplement to the 2009/2010 register or, if you are on the register but have moved address from one Dáil constituency or local electoral area to another, you must complete an application form (RFA3 ).
English and Irish versions of these forms are available for download www.checktheregister.ie directly from Mayo County Council, or from your nearest library. Completed forms should be returned directly to Mayo County Council.
In order to vote in the upcoming local and European elections being held on June 5 2009, the completed forms must reach the county secretary of Mayo County Council not later than Monday May 18 2009.
There’s five weeks left to voting day, get registered, join in the buzz, put the hard questions to the canvassers and watch the next county and town councils unfold.
Toni Bourke Editor [email protected]
