THE taoiseach may want to make it more difficult for young people to vote by holding the forthcoming election on a Thursday, but for many other politicians, the 18 to 24 age group has become crucial to their prospects.

For Dail candidates, this means constructing Bebo pages on the popular social networking site saturated with school and college students.

They're also uploading videos of themselves on the vast online video library, YouTube, in an attempt to infiltrate a younger demographic or, as they might put it themselves, get down with the kids.

Fine Gael has by far the largest presence online. At least 11 of the party's members (senators, councillors and even Enda Kenny himself) have personal Bebo pages backed up by an almost endless network of Young Fine Gael organisations. FG's rather unusual enthusiasm for facets of technology that are, for the most part, a young person's game has left the Irish blogosphere giggling and rolling their eyes in disdain at the rather naive attempt to be cool and tech-savvy.

"I can't work this! ! ! Will u add me! !

I'm shite at this! I'm not in ure 16 [top 16 friends] either! ! ! Request to become my friend or however this thing works! ! !" exclaimed Carlow/Kilkenny Fine Gael senator John Paul Phelan on a friend's Bebo page. He set up his Bebo account less than a month ago (http: //SenJPPhelanFG. bebo. com) and has attracted nearly 10,000 hits.

"A few people involved in my campaign said I should set one up, " Phelan told the Sunday Tribune. "It's really just to get out there with a group of people who don't read local newspapers, who don't listen to local radio."

His page has attracted numerous constituency queries, everything from a local teacher complaining about a school extension to a nurse in Carlow seeking his opinion on pay increases. But mainly, the young audience he has tapped into want to know his opinion on the decriminalisation of illegal drugs.

"Watz ur views on legalisin drugs? ?

I think Gay Byrne is dead rite sayin we should legalise. . . Stop a quear lot of problems, " said 'StarKelly' on the comment facility. "Why would i vote when im busy cultivating weed at home?" said 'D For Disco'. "Why do I have to go criminals every time I want a bit of spliff? If you put drugs into chemists you would wipe out most of the crime in this country.

But politicians are too chicken to make any real progress for the people, " said another, to which Phelan replied: "I've changed my mind on this issue a few times. I dont think we can go down the road of legalising it, but mayb we shud do what they've done in d UK and just decriminalise it. What do u think?" Some of the less constructive comments included "don't you hate pants?" from 'SomeBaldyFela' ("I have no issues with pants man! ! Whats that about? ! ? ! ? !

JP, " the senator replied. ) Phelan believes that Fine Gael has such a strong Bebo presence because of the party's young age profile. But it simply can't match Fianna Fail in the celebrity stakes. Bertie Ahern has up to ten fake profiles on the site, which are constantly being removed and reinvented. One of the most popular has earned a steady stream of comments, most recently from 'BigBird91', "Hey bertie remember me i shook ur hand! ! ! P. s u r sexy! xxx B my friend."

YouTube too has become a forum for political campaign. While Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama launched their US presidential campaigns on the site, in Ireland things are slightly more local.

There is footage of Enda Kenny out and about pressing the flesh, and various video profiles of Fine Gael Dail candidates, including John O'Mahony for Mayo, along with streams of consciousness from Brody Sweeney in Dublin North East.

Imelda Henry displays a montage of her ambitions to be elected in Sligo North Leitrim to the tune of Westlife's 'Flying Without Wings', and Thomas Byrne talks about traffic problems in Slane, Co Meath. Ciaran Cuffe of the Green Party videos himself strutting around Dun Laoghaire waxing lyrical about development issues in a leather jacket, and then heads down to the graffiti-riddled Blackrock baths. It's not clear what his objective is, but you can be sure the viewers of YouTube think the urban art is pretty cool.

Perhaps Cuffe didn't mean it that way.

Is it important for young people to vote?

THE 'Rock The Vote' campaign aims to mobilise 100,000 disenfranchised nonvoters through Bebo, MySpace and YouTube campaigns, as well as with concerts. Actor Cillian Murphy and comedian Dara O' Briain (who both live outside the country) have apparently pledged their allegiance to the cause. So is it important to vote?

Laura Woods, 29, presenter of RTE Two's The Cafe

"The first time I voted was when I was 20 or so. I was always quite conscious that I had a vote and should use it. I will be voting in this election. I think it's nice to see politicians on the Bebo sites. It's hard not to be a little disillusioned after all the tribunals. I think the generation before me are shaking their heads in despair still. There's definitely an air of cynicism. The older you get, the more you understand tax issues, or the first-time buyers' grant and other things which affect you. I'm excited that there are up and coming younger politicians too."

Eoin Aherne, 23, guitarist with Choice Music Prizenominated band Director

"I voted in the last election, and every time there has been a vote. It's one of the few clear-cut things you can do if you want to make a statement about something. You can try and protest, but voting is the one thing you can do without much effort. In general, there's probably a fair bit of a generation gap between 40year-old politicians as ministers, and young people. Them being on Bebo sounds a little stupid. I don't think people who are not interested in voting would go to a Bebo page. To vote you have to be 18, and my experience with Bebo is for people in school."

Laura Lee-Conboy, 21, presenter with Phantom 105.2fm

"I've voted before once, which was the only time I was eligible for. The minute I turned 18, the first thing I did was to get registered to vote. I'm a bit of a feminist and people did die for women to vote.

Politicians don't seem to be doing an awful lot. The government will spend money on the Spire in Dublin, but let people live on the streets. The Bebo thing, they're trying to be cool, but I don't think younger people will buy into that, they'll just laugh at them even more."