Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Sinn Féin will support this important legislation. It is once in a lifetime legislation that we have to get right. What steps are being taken to give 16-year-olds the right to vote? I recently joined Instagram and while I am still getting my head around the platform, I can reach a much younger age group on it.

Through it I see that young people are engaging with and know about politics. They know what is right and wrong and they are determined. I see that with my own daughters. We also saw it with the climate change and Black Lives Matter movements and the support for the marriage equality referendum. We have seen that young people are educating themselves. They are listening and watching what is happening around them, both in Ireland and internationally. We should give them the respect they deserve. What steps are being taken to reduce the voting age to 16 years? I believe we should listen to and respect younger people. They are our future and they deserve an input into where the country will go.

On another issue, I am not sure if the Minister of State follows the comedian Tadhg Hickey on Twitter. If he does not, however, I highly recommend that he does. Tadhg is a lovely guy and a very funny comedian. Yesterday, however, he shared some of the highly disturbing messages he has received on social media. I am not going to share them here because I do not think it is appropriate. It is disturbing that some people even suggest he deserves this kind of commentary because of his political views. I am aware other committees are currently examining and working through the online safety Bill. We need to consider putting this in place in the electoral reform Bill. Some of the comments that are made and the trolling that takes place against people like Tadhg, and people like us and other politicians because of their political beliefs, is utterly disgusting. To allow trolling to take place and anonymous accounts to be set up to spread the amount of hate that exists is shocking. We have seen it on all sides and it is not good enough. People, especially young women and minority groups, are being put off getting involved in politics because of the level of personal attacks and hate. Will the Minister of State also look into this to see if the use of anonymous accounts by trolls and attacks on people because of their political briefs can be combated in this Bill?

I will make a final point about the electoral register and the need for that to get more people involved. There has been some discussion about preregistration for younger people in schools, and we are looking at educating people to vote, which I support. There is a very important need for that. Many older people also need to be educated. We produce a sample voting sheet every year. That is something the commission should also look at from an educational point of view.

Those are just some of my points. I would appreciate it if the Minister of State would take a minute to respond.