Annie Hoey (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I want to circle back around. We talked briefly about 18 years and this kind of arbitrary age. We are obviously bound by certain laws and requirements but which sort of system would our guests advocate for? Would it be a mid-range one, if you will, with people aged from 16 to 25 years, that is, young adults or is there an international standard of what is the best approach? In politics for example, a person is considered sprightly and young up to the age of 40 years and one can get funding to do all sorts of things - so I have loads of time left. Is there an international example of what the best framing is? As was said, someone doing his or her leaving certificate is suddenly told: "Now you are an adult; go forth", and goes into a completely different system. It is not serving anyone. We have heard many people say if someone presents aged 16 years he or she is not going to get seen before he or she is aged 18 and therefore it is just a waste of everyone's time. I do not know that the age framing is working. Maybe that is because of our lack of resourcing. Would our guests be able to tease that out a bit for us?