Mr. Michael McLoughlin:

It is hard to know where to start on the issues of health and well-being. The idea is that the journey of 1,000 miles starts with one step. To highlight one area in the presentation on alcohol policy, for example, we have done a great deal of work on the issue during the years. There is a template available, for which the Minister of State, Deputy Alex White, has responsibility - the last Minister of State, Deputy Róisín Shortall, did a great deal of work on it in the South - based on WHO research and years of discussion with a number of players. The issue now is implementation and delivering things that have been well researched, proved and signposted. We would like to see progress being made in this discrete area.

On a broader level, there are a number of issues such as transport and so forth. From our point of the view, the participation of young people in decision making is crucial. We are involved in running Dáil na nÓg and Comhairle na nÓg which are very good initiatives, but we need more and better ones. We certainly support the widening of the franchise, but there is the issue of registering to vote, as 18 to 25 year olds have the lowest rate of registration. They also have the lowest turnout in elections. Our statistics office carried out a study about ten years ago. The rate of registration and participation in the political process increases sequentially every ten years. The highest participation rate in voting and registration is among people over 65 years, while the lowest is among 18 to 25 year olds. We must lance that boil. The registration process in the South is an absolute disaster. It is like an obstacle course. If one moves and changes address, it involves getting bits of paper, filling them in and bringing them to a Garda station. It is crazy, given that one can do most other things online such as banking and buying airline tickets. We must think about making the process much easier.

With regard to decreasing the voting age, for some bizarre reason, there was a consensus among campaigners that we should reduce the age to 16 years, but suddenly it is 17 for the constitutional convention. I do not know why or whose idea that was. Young people are not involved in the constitutional convention. They are effectively excluded because the citizens involved in it will be selected from the electoral register. We hope to do something about this to involve young people directly. We have to walk the walk on the issue of participation. We talk a great deal about it; there is lovely talk about getting young people involved and telling them they are great. However, they become very frustrated at being led up the hill on something and then seeing no delivery or action on it. The voting and constitutional convention are good examples of this.

A number of years ago we met a Minister of State to discuss the issue of alcohol and the State's response. The meeting was held in the Department of Health on the fourth floor of Hawkins House. We asked the officials if they had consulted or involved young people in these decisions but they had not. Interestingly, the office of the Minister of State with responsibility for children and youth affairs was located on the fifth floor. The Minister had responsibility for the national children's strategy which states young people should be involved in decisions that affect them. The strategy had not even moved down one floor in the lift, let alone out into the community and among decision makers. There is still a huge amount of work to be done in that regard.

The final point is on education and training. I urge people not to lose sight of the vocational space. Third level is hugely important, but even today there was an announcement about cuts to post-leaving certificate, PLC, courses. These courses are very important for young people who are not going on to third level but who have an average leaving certificate and want to get on in life. Many of our members are involved in delivering Youthreach and community workshops in conjunction with FÁS or the new structure of education and training boards. With the concept of a European youth guarantee, we want to see more young people having quality options in the education and training areas. We must have vocational spaces, what was seen as traditional FÁS provision, and PLC courses, as well as third level places. Today's news regarding PLCs is very disappointing in that regard.