FIRST-TIME AND young voters in Northern Ireland are gearing up ahead of the 5 May Assembly election, with a wide variety of issues set to take centre stage on polling day.

While the election itself is set to be dominated by both health and the rising cost of living, these issues aren’t entirely divorced from what young people across Northern Ireland are concerned about.

Speaking to some young voters on doors in South Belfast, one of the main concerns raised was the cost of living.

John Joe told The Journal that while that rising costs might not directly impact him, they are certainly having an impact on people on the breadline.

“We’re doing alright at the minute but the increases, they would be mental on people on the breadline. It’d be terrible to think of,” he said.

Dermot Hamill, an 18-year-old podcaster from South Armagh, said that the rising cost of fuel has made him and his friends reconsider learning to drive.

“I’m learning at the minute and a lot of us are saying, ‘maybe we’ll put this whole driving thing on the back burner at the minute’,” said Hamill.

“It’s all well and good to get the car and get insurance, those might not be going up as much, but if you can’t afford to run the thing.”

Alana Cahoon, a 19-year-old from Portadown and member of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) says that students in third level education are also feeling the pinch.

While she still lives at home, Cahoon says that the cost of rent for some students is becoming increasingly high and she feels as if there are no protections available for young renters.

“It’s just crazy the amount that landlords are charging students,” says Cahoon.

Irish language

There have been additional concerns raised by first time voters around the Irish language and how it is used across Northern Ireland.

Cahoon says that a lot of young nationalist voters are concerned about the Irish language, with it being brought up alongside issues like cost-of-living and healthcare concerns.

Cahoon works with Pure Mental, a charity which campaigns for mental health education in both primary and secondary education in Northern Ireland and says that the issue is regularly raised at the charity’s events.

“It doesn’t directly impact me because it’s not something that I grew up around, but a lot of young people are bringing up the Irish language,” Cahoon says.

“I am quite politically engaged, in terms of we have a lot of events where we would regularly engage from people from nationalist backgrounds and Irish language is definitely a thing that we have coming up quite frequently.”

Hamill says that there were commitments made for an Irish Language Act and he wants to see it enacted.

“Being a Gaeilgeoir, it matters… There have been commitments made and they should be held on to and supported.”

Under the New Decade, New Approach deal signed in early 2020 which restored the Assembly after it fell in 2017, legislation was approved to be brought in to allow for the Irish language to be recognised within Northern Ireland.

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However, this was not carried out and DUP leader Edwin Poots was forced to resign as party leader over his concession around the Irish Language Act in June 2021.

Concerns around healthcare, in particular for women, also are raised by some voters, with abortion and safe access zones coming up frequently.

One voter, Cara, who returned to Northern Ireland after five years in the UK said that safe access zones around abortion clinics were a priority.

Legislation on this issue has already been passed by the Assembly, with the bill being voted in on the last day of Stormont before it was dissolved for the election.

Cahoon says that there have been issues around Craigavon Hospital, with anti-abortion protests being staged around on a roundabout on the way up to the hospital.

First time voters were also raising concerns around the climate crisis, with some voters looking for a climate plan akin to a Green New Deal seen in the US and across parts of Europe.

Roan, who spoke to The Journal on a canvass in South Belfast, said that he was “really, really passionate” about the climate and he was part of a group who took a challenge to Steve Baker, a Conservative MP who chairs a Tory-led Net Zero Scrutiny Group. 

As the Assembly election draws nearer, where young voters decide to place their vote could prove instrumental in how Stormont is shaped after 5 May.