Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

It is absolutely welcome that we could have much more enfranchisement of people in this country. Straight away I support the concept of 16-year-olds voting and I have always believed that it should be the case. We all know the arguments for it in that 16-year-olds could be working and one can join the Army at 17. The idea that a person cannot have a vote until he or she turns 18 is something that must definitely change. We constantly hear the refrain that young people are not interested but young people are very engaged in politics in general. One can consider mobilisation around repealing the eighth amendment to the Constitution and many issues that matter to young people. On International Women's Day we saw a huge number of students out on the streets.

I will make a couple of points relating to non-citizens. From what I can gather, the Bill indicates the Oireachtas can bring in legislation. I have a Bill relating to people resident in the State - many of these people are here for many years - having a vote, as one has with a local election. The same idea should apply to the Dáil. Currently, approximately 12% of people do not have a vote but live in this country. In constituencies like mine in Dublin West, the rate is twice the average, so approximately one in four people there was born outside Ireland. It is untenable that in major population centres, one in four people does not have a vote. Many of these people are here for 15 years and some have citizenship but there is no effort in this country to get people to upgrade their vote from applying to local elections to being able to vote in all elections. Some people do not become citizens, particularly those from the European Union, such as those from England and France. They can be very excluded from having any say in referendums, Presidential and Oireachtas elections. There must be a change in that respect.

What is being proposed or will any line be drawn with respect to qualification? As the law stands, if a person is less than 18 months out of the State, he or she is considered to be ordinarily resident. We saw with the marriage equality referendum that thousands of people flew home and made sure they cast their vote. The "home to vote" phenomenon was very important, as many people were in Britain and even further afield. Will this Bill open it to basically anybody who is Irish around the world? There are more Irish citizens outside the State than in the State due to generations of emigration and so on. Is the qualification the need for Irish-born grandparents? Would any additional qualifications be included, such as previous residency in the State? There could be a case where somebody has not even been in Ireland but could vote, yet many people in Ireland, paying tax and being influenced by decisions would remain without a vote.

Would there be a time limit on this? I have not come to a position on this but I am teasing out the matter. Perhaps it would apply for a person who is away for up to five years. The more somebody is away from Ireland, the weaker the connection to the daily life of the society in which he or she may have a vote. The President plays a very limited role in making laws but there is potential power not to sign a Bill or whatever. The question could be posed as to why some people have a vote when they do not feel the impact of the decision.

Another question relates to the North. Given the uncertainty over Brexit and the potential of a Border poll, would the movers of the Bill see any potential for this to cause problems, tensions or divisions? The idea is that everybody would have a vote for the President of the Republic of Ireland. There are tensions in the North right now. I know there are practical issues and the movers of the Bill will leave those to the Oireachtas. There is no electoral register and it would have to be set up. I will leave those points until later.