Survey: Youth do not keep up to date on Oireachtas
The survey also reveals that more than 25% of people questioned did not know what made up the Houses of the Oireachtas, which consists of the Dáil, Seanad, and office of the President.
The MRBI research, released yesterday, was carried out for the Oireachtas and surveyed 1,002 respondents last October, aged 15 and older. It examined what people knew about the Houses of the Oireachtas, its members, and how they gathered their information about the parliament.
About 36% of people who were aware of the Houses felt that their role was “to legislate or make laws or rules”, 34% thought it was to “govern the country”, while 19% didn’t know or gave no answer.
While over 40% said the houses were either made of TDs or Senators, a quarter of respondents said they did not know what the Houses of the Oireachtas consisted of.
While many people kept informed about the parliament through television (52%), newspapers (41%), and radio (19%), many did not know about the activities of the Houses at all.
The survey showed that 45% of 15-24-year-olds did not keep informed about the Houses of the Oireachtas at all.
The research concluded that while awareness of the Houses was high overall (84%), people's knowledge of specifics and the role of the Houses was relatively low. Furthermore, “a lack of knowledge may be a contributing factor to the slightly negative attitude towards the Houses of the Oireachtas”, it added.
The research also concluded that while new media and ways of keeping people informed were growing, it was generally the more traditional sources that provided information to people about the Houses of the Oireachtas.
