The general election is a mere two semesters away so political parties have spent the past few months vying to tap into the student vote.

Surveys and polls show that young people are interested in politics but this does not always convert into attendance in polling centres on election day.

Political parties realise that the youth vote is a largely untapped resource and some parties have gone to cringe-making measures to attract the PlayStation generation.

A picture of Bertie Ahern dressed in a monkey suit asking college students to "Pimp my Party" is the hip message Fianna Fail has sent out on the posters it is using for its current third level recruitment drive.

Despite the suggestion implied in the slogan that Fianna Fail can be bought, the 'Pimp my Party' campaign seems to have worked. It ran in 29 third level campuses throughout the country and was Fianna Fail's most successful recruitment campaign ever.

While the party is still recruiting in colleges across the country, it claims to have recruited 2,408 members to date. There are now approximately 4,000 members in Ogra Fianna Fail.

Not to be outdone, Fine Gael's latest attempt to woo students displayed posters of a DJ wearing sun glasses at a mixing desk under the banner 'Party Political Broadcast'.

The message on the poster read, "Here's one party political broadcast worth tuning in to" and told potential recruits that their "actionpacked schedule of events, nights out and weekends away" meant they would "get a great social life into the mix."

Fine Gael claims that it has over 4,000 members in its youth wing with 2,213 youth members in its branches outside of the colleges.

At third level they have recruited 1,881 members, which marks a 30% increase on its recruitment in the colleges last year.

Labour's offer of a "real alternative" on their campaign posters also appears to have attracted new blood into the party recently.

Same sex marriage, a 10 per hour minimum wage, the abolition of college fees and the banishing of the US military out of Shannon are the four flagship selling points outlined on Labour's current poster campaign.

The party claims to have 1,011 third level students amongst its membership, 258 of whom joined in the current academic year. Fourteen of these attend third level institutions in Northern Ireland, and are members of a body called the Northern Ireland Labour Forum which is affiliated with the party in Dublin.

The Green Party does not have a specific poster campaign this autumn, opting instead to use newsletters and giveaway merchandise to attract new members.

The party does not have any available statistics for its number of third level student members but claims to have recruited 750 Young Greens (16 to 26 year olds) in September and October. The party now has 826 young members.

Sinn Fein recruits on an All-Ireland basis and claims to have signed up 769 third level student members in the current academic year.

While the party's figures include 218 members from colleges in the North, it has yet to collate figures for the ITs in Waterford, Tralee and Limerick.

Despite (or perhaps because of) a number of high profile poster campaigns, including the infamous "Dail Wars: Attack of the Socialists" poster that featured Mary Harney lunging at Pat Rabbitte with a 'Star Wars' light sabre, the Progressive Democrats have the least number of third level members with just 272 students having signed up.

"Other parties use gimmicks like entry into raffles for a DVD player to get numbers up, " said a spokesman for Young PDs. "The best way to know the active membership of a party is to look at the attendance at the youth conference."

As their current recruitment drives come to an end, the parties now face their biggest battle . . . getting students to vote in next year's general election.