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Tralee Business Gives Candidates Chance To Reach Young People And Help Environment

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Rachel Geary, LEAF Coordinator with EEU An Taisce and Brian Stephenson of candidates.ie launching the partnership where they hope election candidates sign up help the environment. Photo: Pauline Dennigan

A TRALEE business has teamed up with An Taisce to help candidates promote their policies online and reduce the carbon footprint of the election by planting thousands of trees.

Candidates.ie and EEU An Taisce have developed a plan to drive this election campaign into the 21st century and plant thousands of native trees in the process.

Election candidates have the opportunity to subscribe to the candidates.ie website and subsequently over 50% of the revenue generated will be used by EEU An Taisce programmes (e.g. LEAF, Green-Schools, Clean Coasts, National Spring Clean) to plant trees in schools and communities across Ireland.

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Candidates.ie gives voters the opportunity to get to know candidates from the convenience of their smartphone or laptop.

Younger voters have traditionally recorded low levels of turnout on election day.  Politicians connecting with a younger audience online could be a key motivator to inspire younger people to exercise their democratic right and influence decisions made at Leinster House.

While the key benefit of candidates.ie is bringing voters and candidates closer together, the inspiration for the idea was tackling plastic waste.

Ireland’s response and action plan on Climate Change is sure to be a hot topic on the campaign trail over the coming weeks, especially among young people.

It’s estimated that half a million campaign posters will be erected over the next four weeks with the majority of those likely to end up in landfill after the election.

Commenting on the announcement, Brian Stephenson from candidates.ie said; “We’re delighted to be partnering with EEU An Taisce on this project. The candidates.ie website will help connect voters with candidates and reduce the carbon footprint of the general election. It’s a win-win.”

Rachel Geary, LEAF Coordinator with EEU An Taisce added; “Climate change is the biggest issue facing us at the moment, this collaborative initiative will provide an opportunity to tackle climate change at a community level by planting trees with our schools and community groups across the country. Not only will we be planting trees, but we will also educate and raise awareness about the importance of trees and the multifunctional benefits of forests.”