Suddenly, he's talked about as being pretty cool for poking fun at himself . . . or he's ringing alarm bells because he's such a proficient and convincing actor.

But most of all, mainly younger people who wouldn't normally be talking about their political leader are discussing him and perhaps, just perhaps, his politics.

Here, news viewers during the week got an interesting picture of "not bothered" politics at work in the Dail. It was the second stage of the "debate" on the Criminal Justice Bill, one of the most important pieces of legislation to be introduced in this country in many a decade. As opposition justice spokesmen speechified with manufactured passion to an almost empty Dail chamber, the architect of the legislation, the minister for justice Michael McDowell, completed his crossword. Obviously, he was "not bothered".

He knows his bill will get through. In one of the worst acts of democratic vandalism by this government, the opposition parties will be allowed just two days to make amendments at the committee stage . . . and the final debate has been guillotined to just four hours.

The fate of the right to silence, of the right to bail, electronic tagging and a mandatory sentencing scheme for a series of serious crimes, all have been sealed before the first word of debate . . . constructive or critical . . . can be uttered.

The handling of the Criminal Justice Bill 2007 is just the final insult in five years of downgrading of the Dail as an arena of debate for public policy. Little or no legislation is passed for months on end . . . apart from emergency child-protection laws to fill gaps in laws that the courts have blown apart . . . and then four or five important laws are rushed through at the last minute.

It is little wonder that so many feel apathetic and alienated from the world of politics.

When not even backbench politicians attend, let alone influence, debates about laws of the land which they are responsible for enacting, it's an easy step for voters . . . young and old . . . to question why they should engage with the political life of the nation at all.

It is, of course, the younger voter that the politicians are concentrating much of their efforts on as election day nears . . . and the poll margins tighten intriguingly.

As a result, we have seen a plethora of politicians using personal podcasts on YouTube, blogs and social networking sites such as Bebo (which they more usually damn with fearful doomladen warnings) to "connect" with the younger vote. On these sites, with one or two unpatronising exceptions, visitors are subjected to either a personal political broadcast carried off with varying degrees of professionalism or email conversations liberally dotted with words such as "man", "shite", "dude" and "cool".

What those involved in politics seem to forget is that the best way to "connect" with the young is not to set up a page on Bebo or, for that matter, move polling day from Friday to Thursday, but to inspire. When the standard of debate is so high it engages, when the issues are argued with passionate intensity, when voters get a real sense that their vote has the power to shape our country, we'll start seeing the turnout rise. But when we see that the politicians themselves barely respect the system, what can we expect?

Why not Friday? It seems we want to go to the pub, the pictures, the country house, the weekend golf/spa break. Ask us to interrupt the most important single act of participation in a democracy we can do as individuals and vote? We're not bothered.