I frequently have students working with me for a week as part of work experience plans. One such student finished up last week. I asked him to write an impression of his week. Names, as they say, have been changed to protect the innocent!!
” I’ve just spent a week doing Work Experience in Leinster House with Senator Paschal Donohoe. Working in Politics wasn’t the top of my list of things I wanted to do when I leave school, but this week has changed my views on life as a Politician.As I have been here I have packed and mailed out hundreds of letters to constituency supporters. I also did some interesting research on the Underground Dart/Dublin Interconnector and answered a few questions on it.
We looked at Paschal’s website and compared it to other political websites. I have attended a few Order of Business meetings, heard Paschal voice his opinions and watched a vote taking place within the Seanad. I have also done some work outside of Leinster House. This included dropping leaflets to residents in the local Cabra area with Councillor Ray McAdam, explaining what Paschal is doing for his local community, and doing some work in the constituency office in Phibsborough.
So that is really all I have to say about working in Leinster House. It has been good fun and I now seem to be more interested and aware of political matters than I was before I started. I’ve really enjoyed my time here and it has been very worthwhile, and I would encourage other people to get involved in this kind of work.”