A NEW APP, developed by researchers from University College Dublin, has been launched aimed at informing the public about the EU ahead of the European elections in June.

EU&I2024 is a voter advice application, available across every member state, and poses questions to users about their political views on; EU enlargement, immigration, climate change and economic policies.

The app registers answers and informs users of which party or candidate in their country would best represents their political views in the European Parliament. It also gives users a chance to see how their vote compares to each party’s stance.

The creators of the app hope that it will encourage Irish and European voters to cast a ballot in June for the next MEPs to represent their member states.

A team of researchers and developers from University College Dublin (UCD) helped to build the questions and choices for the Irish section of the website and application.

• You can access the website here

As previously reported by The Journal, voter turnout in every election in Ireland was much lower when compared to the EU average – but less than half of registered voters cast a ballot in the 2019 European elections.

However, after large, global events have impacted the EU and its member states over the last five years, polling by The Journal and Ireland Thinks has found that more than 80% of the public have said they are “very likely” to vote in June.

The Irish team leader and associate professor at UCD Dr James Cross as well as UCD Masters’ student Aaron Kelly – who worked to develop the application – said they hope voters use the service to allow them to make an informed decision on polling day.

Cross said: “A group of our master’s students from different disciplines here at UCD have been working tirelessly to compile information about the election and its candidates.

“They have made this information accessible to our app users, contributing to a Europe-wide effort to inform voters.”

Kelly explained that the tool erases European jargon without eliminating any importing information for voters. 

“It is a free resource that provides a personalised and exhaustive political guide for users, and we hope that it will encourage more people to get out and use their vote in June,” Kelly said.

***

This work is co-funded by Journal Media and a grant programme from the European Parliament. Any opinions or conclusions expressed in this work are the author’s own. The European Parliament has no involvement in nor responsibility for the editorial content published by the project. For more information, see here.