Mr. James Doorley:

I agree that preregistration is a step forward because the Senator is right about 18 years old being a bad age for engagement. We have always said that. People get lost through the administrative cracks then and they are not sure if they should register where they live or where they are going to college, working or doing an apprenticeship. Therefore, preregistering young people at 16 years of age would allow work to be done through schools and youth organisations to encourage those young people to register and we would welcome that change.

We will be asking the Government to go a step further and extend voting rights to young people aged 16 and 17 for local and European elections. That is a matter for the Government. I agree with the Senator about pre-registration. It would make a difference. I also agree about encouraging young people to go into politics and democratic representation. We need to look at the structure of local councils, in particular, and even town councils, as other colleagues have mentioned. We should make it easier for people to take that first step on the ladder. That brings us to the thorny issue of whether being a councillor is a part-time job or a full-time job with a part-time salary.