Young Fine Gael
Young Fine Gael (YFG) is the autonomous youth wing of the Irish political party Fine Gael. It is a major presence in political circles in third level institutions as well as in some towns and constituencies in the Republic of Ireland. It offers its members scope to assist in formulation of political policy, and the day to day running of the senior party. It is a constituent member of the Youth of the European Peoples Party, the youth wing of the European christian democratic grouping. Its president is Elizabeth Munnelly.
History
Young Fine Gael were formed in 1977 as part of the internal reforms to Fine Gael instigated by Garret Fitzgerald who had become leader of the party. Unlike other youth wings, YFG is an autonomous organisation, although they remain an active part of Fine Gael..
They grew rapidly with over 100 local branches of YFG being formed by 1978.
During the 1980s they pursued a fairly liberal agenda, supporting the repeal of Ireland's homosexuality laws; a ban on the state funding on single-sex schools; and greater family planning options. Nowadays there is a broad range of political viewpoints held by members, ranging from centrist and social-democratic to the more conservative.
Organisation
YFG has a range of policies that it developed in conjunction with its own members. It has policy committees ranging from the Social Affairs committee to the Northern Ireland committee.
YFG policies are often used by the senior party.
YFG have experienced renewed growth in recent years.
YFG scheduled a national conference for February 2007 to nominate a candidate for the Senate elections in the summer. John Kennedy, Dublin Organiser of YFG, was selected. It is planned that Kennedy will run on the NUI panel. This is a first for any youth political organisation in Ireland.
YFG structure is based upon the European election constitutions. Its consists of Dublin, Leinster (Ireland East), Munster (Ireland South) and Connaught/Ulster (Ireland West). Each province inturn has a regional council in which the individual branches can meet and engage in discussion and set out agenda. These regional councils are designed to engage members from the same region and provide innovation in the group as well as in its senior party. Such groups have proven a valuable facet in the workings of the organisation, providing the party with an academy type structure where ambitious members are offered scope to prove themselves and provide a name for themselves.
Other
Young Fine Gael engages with its members quite well, due largely to its social aspects. Many members are attracted by the functions and socials run by YFG. Since its foundation, the annual national conference, summer school, and other events have been run along side the less political side of things. YFG has realised the benefits to such reputation, and has advertised on college campuses to that degree, using clever advertising slogans which capture aspects of college social life. It has been accused of a policy of 'dumbing down', with many commentators [citation needed] pointing to a lack of actual politics or discussion within the organisation, but rather a marked emphasis on promoting the stereotypical image of students in an attempt to make themselves attractive to this constituency.
Some of the prominent branches of YFG include, University College Cork YFG, Trinity College YFG, University of Limerick YFG, Cork North West YFG, National University of Ireland, Galway YFG, National University of Ireland, Dun Laoire YFG, Maynooth YFG, University College Dublin YFG, Kerry North YFG and YFG Letterkenny.
YFG operates two online e-zines, The Informer, a national production, and The Vulcan, the newsletter of Trinity YFG.
President and Executive
A President and National Executive is elected at the national council of YFG, which must be held at least once every 18 months.
- President: Elizabeth Munnelly (UL/Ballina YFG)
- Vice President: Barry Walsh (UL YFG)
- National Secretary: David McDonagh (Tubbercurry YFG) Feb.06-07,
Michelle Perry (NUIG YFG/Sligo) appointed as Secretary to the Executive in March 2007.
- Director of Communications: Liam Quinn UL (Young Fine Gael)
- Director of Policy: John Carroll (Meath East/Trinity YFG)
- College's Organiser & Branch Training and Development Officer: Maurice Fitzgerald (UCC/North Tipperary YFG)
- Dublin Organiser: John Kennedy (UCD/Dublin South YFG)
- Leinster Organiser: Simon Harris (Wicklow YFG)
- Munster Organiser: Catrina Burke (UL Young Fine Gael)
- Connaught/Ulster Organiser: Sean Finan (North Roscommon/ NUIG YFG)
- Without Portfolio: Keith Stephens (Galway East/NUIG YFG)
Young Fine Gael National Chairs/Presidents
- 1 Roy Dooney 1978-1979
- 2 Richard Daly 1979-1980
- 3 Colm Burke 1980-1981
- 4 John "Jim" Finucane 1981-1983
- 5 Chris O'Malley 1983-1984
- 6 Annette Connoly 1984-1985
- 7 Michael O'Dowd 1985-1986
- 8 Brian Murphy 1986-1988
- 9 Ken White 1988-1989
- 10 Billy Stamp 1989-1990
- 11 Tim Rea 1990-1991
- 12 Colm Brophy 1991-1993
- 13 John Mullens 1993-1995
- 14 Tony Sutton 1995
- 15 David Byrne 1995-1996
- 16 Arthur Lynch 1996-1998
- 17 Conor Price 1998-1999
- 18 Patrick O’Donovan 1999-2000
- 19 Aida Goold 2000-2001
- 20 Gerard O’Connell 2001-2003
- 21 William Lavelle 2003-2004
- 22 Patrick O'Driscoll 2004-2006
- 23 Elizabeth Munnelly 2006-
Recent Campaigns
- Homeless Solidarity Campaign (2003 & 2004). Sleep-outs in Dublin, Cork and Limerick to raise awareness of Irelands' homelessness problem.
- Better Deal for Young Drivers (2003): To campaign for action on road safety, motor insurance for young drivers and reform of the diver education/testing system. This campaign included 20 public meetings nationwide and a local media and internet publicity drive.
- Housing Tax Campaign (2004): Nationwide petition campaign to raise awareness of the government's excessive tax take on new homes for first-time buyers.
- Talk! Campaign (2005): To raise awareness of Mental Health and Suicide
- Voter Registration Campaign (2006): To encourage Youth Participation in Politics
The Vulcan
The Vulcan is an occasional magazine from various organisations within Young Fine Gael (YFG), the youth wing of Ithe rish political party Fine Gael.
The Vulcan (originally entitled "Vulcan") originated as a magazine published by the Trinity College, Dublin branch of Fine Gael in the 1960s. It was published irregularly over the following decades, before failing to be published at all in the 1990s. A number of the copies of this magazine have been lodged with the Trinity College Library. It was particularly critical of the Fine Gael leadership during the "National Coalition" of 1973 - 1977, under the then FDuine Gael Taoiseach, Liam Cosgrave, and was supportive of the incoming leader of Fine Gael, Dr Garret Fitzgerald, from 1977 onwards. Among the writers in the mid 1970's to the magazine were jonathan Haughton, Brian Harvey and Philip Jones (all of whom were involved in the TCD branch of Fine Gael. The latter two were also involved in the early days of Young Fine Gael.
In 2004, the International Committee of Young Fine Gael relaunched the magazine as an online, PDF version dealing with the internal workings of YFG's International Committee and also as a forum for debate on International Affairs.
See also
External links
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
