Business warns on Brexit vote: Negative campaigning won’t work

IT is never easy to get people to vote in referendums called to decide on peripheral change.

The lowest turnout recorded was in 1979 when just 28.6% of the electorate voted on adoption and university representation in the Seanad. Even though apathy prevailed, hard-to-change decisions were made. Nevertheless, a reasonably healthy 65.2% of voters went to the polling booths in the February election, a far cry from the disturbing 3% rate recorded in some of Dublin’s inner city constituencies in earlier polls.

It is difficult though to generate excitement, or even interest, in a vote that we cannot take part in, even if it might have a significant bearing on our lives and our economy. The vote, on June 23, on Britain’s continued membership of the EU falls into that category. Like cricket, we know it means something and is extraordinarily important to some of our neighbours, but we are not really engaged, much less enthralled. Maybe we should be.