1. Worksheet - Politicians in Ireland and England

In the UK, the Labour Party is one of the main political parties. In 1999, 18 of their MPs (Member of Parliament) were aged 65 or over.

Answer these questions, using a word processor or spreadsheet, if possible. You can use the Internet or an encyclopaedia to look up the answers to some of the questions.

Questions

1. In August 1999, there were 415 Labour MPs in the UK parliament. What percentage of this total was aged 65 and over in August 1999?
2. Find out what the population of the UK is.
3. Find out what percentage of the population of the UK is aged 65 or more.
4. How does the percentage of older MPs compare with the percentage of older people in the population? Show this information on a bar chart.
5. Now do some research on the situation in Ireland. First, find out how many TDs there are in the Dáil.
6. Find out how many of these TDs are aged 65 and over, and where they are from.
7. Find out what the population of Ireland is.
8. Find out what percentage of the population of Ireland is aged 65 or more.
9. How does the percentage of older TDs in Ireland compare with the percentage of older people in the population? Show this information on a bar chart.
10. Compare the chart for Britain with the chart for Ireland. Which country has more members of parliament aged 65 or more?
11. On a map of Ireland, mark the areas represented by the older TDs. Can you see any pattern?