Meet Fermanagh’s version of Tony Benn.

“Let’s bring politics to the people,” states 14-year-old Darragh O’Reilly, who is running for election in the UK Youth Parliament and cites the late Labour MP and out-spoken socialist Tony Benn as the politician he most admires.

The articulate teenager – son of Trevor and Brigid O’Reilly, from Newtownbutler – attributes his passion for politics to his grandfather, who grew up in the tenements in Dublin and instilled an interest in political policy and economics in Darragh.

“I would class myself as a social democrat – I agree with the left parts of the British Labour party, but not Ed Milliband. I will probably join the Socialist party at some stage but I’m not 100 per cent sure if it fully represents my views,” he explains.

A drastic change in the teaching of citizenship classes would lead young people away from becoming “a Facebook generation who only care about Kim Kardashian,” Darragh states.

“It needs to be a class that we actually care about. Teach us about the main political parties and what they stand for; without political literacy, we are not a democracy” he states.

He wants to “bring modernity” to Northern Ireland and move away from sectarian politics. “We should see ourselves as European first, then British or Irish,” he states. France is a good example, according to Darragh, because “religion doesn’t matter; It shouldn’t matter who you pray to at night.” His election manifesto contains three policies: to allow 16-year-olds to vote “because it would give people hope for the future”; raising the minimum wage to £9-£10 “to bring economic recovery”; and to oppose fracking “because it is economically and environmentally unsustainable and the money would not be going back to local people.” Voting closes at 6pm tomorrow (Friday) and the third year St. Michael’s College student is hoping he will make it to the coveted post of Member of the Youth Parliament (MYP). Four others are running for Fermanagh South Tyrone: Matthew Murtagh, Catriona Duffy, Hollie Morrison (current MYP for the area) and Ríona O’Brien.

Seventeen Northern Ireland MYPs will champion the voices of young people engaging with every young person in their constituency, shape UK Youth Parliament policy and campaigns, meet regularly with other youth councils and forums in their area and encourage young people to take part in UK Youth Parliament’s UK-wide consultation ‘Make Your Mark’ later this year. They will also meet fellow MYPs from across the UK in the annual sitting in England later in the year. The initiative is supported by Westminster and Stormont politicians and a reception will be held for the new representatives in the City Hall later this month.

“Even if I don’t win, the whole election has helped imprint my ethos of: ‘Let’s bring politics to the people’,” comments Darragh, who concludes: “We can’t be looking at life through a tunnel. Fermanagh needs to see itself as a vibrant part of the rest of Northern Ireland and the UK, not a weird wonderland where we twiddle our thumbs and fight about flags.” To vote in the UKYP elections, log onto www.mievent.info/event/niyefermanaghnandsouthtyrone15