Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the fact that the Government will not oppose the Bill on Second Stage, but it should not just allow it to run it into the sand. The Government should facilitate the Bill's passage to Committee and Report Stages.

"Mol an óige agus tiocfaidh sí" is an old, but true, Irish saying. Obviously, Deputy Mathews does not believe in its meaning, namely, that if the youth are encouraged, they will rise and prosper. He stated that we could not give teenagers votes because their hormones were battling in their bodies. Many people in their 40s and 50s also have hormones battling in their bodies, but we do not remove their right to vote. Let us set the hormone battles to one side and deal with the issues, as they are no reason to deny young people the right to vote.

I welcome the Minister of State's constructive comments, but including this proposal among the May referendums would be a simple matter. The two questions that will be put to the people in May are straightforward, those being, do they support same-sex marriage and do they support the right of someone under 35 years of age but over 21 years of age running for the office of President. If my memory is correct, more than two issues have previously been presented to the people on the same day. Those were complicated issues. Our proposed third question would be straightforward, namely, whether people believe that persons under 18 years of age should be allowed to vote. As such, the Minister of State's reason is not sufficient to defer the referendum to another time. The constitutional convention has been beneficial and allowed the opportunity to tease out many issues. On 18 July 2013, the Government outlined in the Dáil its agreement to hold a referendum on the proposal to amend the Constitution.

In the Minister of State's concluding remarks, he conceded that the issue surrounding the age of majority need not be an obstacle. However, he stated that there could be other legislative implications. Those could be teased out simply. That someone has the right to vote does not confer on him or her the range of entitlements that people who turn 18 years of age acquire. The fact that a number of countries, including the EU, are moving or have moved to lower voting ages should be considered. A study in Austria found that the electoral turnout of 16 year olds and 17 year olds was significantly higher than was the turnout of older first-time voters. This is interesting. Getting people to vote for the first time before the age of 18 years is more likely than it would be before they were 20 or 21 years of age. As every Deputy knows, it can be difficult to convince people in their 20s to vote for anyone, be it a Fine Gael candidate, a Sinn Féin candidate or whoever. They can be apathetic. Deputies often meet young people on tours in Leinster House. They are interested, engaged, keyed into the political system and want to know more about it. Sometimes, they do this through transition year programmes. The Bill could be tied into those. Far from the transition year gig being a negative event that, as Deputy Mathews claimed, should be used as a reason against lowering the voting age, it is actually a reason for doing it.

That is very interesting. I also think people in the younger age group are more likely to be first-time voters when they are at school.

Concern has been expressed about the important link with education. I have a concern about what happens when school principals and teachers invite Deputies and councillors to speak to students. It would be interesting to see a survey of schools that would show which political parties are more likely to receive such invitations. We would be in favour of an arrangement that would give the same share of invitations to each of the four main political parties and to the Independent group. It would be very interesting if each of them was to get one fifth of the slots that are available. I am concerned about the present situation. I have spoken to students in schools at the invitation of teachers, but I have not received that many invitations. I know that members of other political parties speak to students in schools on a fairly regular basis. If the system were scrutinised to ensure children are presented with all the facts rather than being unduly influenced by one political doctrine or another, that would be welcomed by Sinn Féin. Students should be taught about what the responsibility that accompanies the right to vote actually means in terms of shaping society, looking after its future and making sure we have good and fair outcomes.

The youth organisations will be disappointed by the refusal to hold a referendum on this issue. The vote at 16 alliance, in particular, is very anxious for this to be done. It had said that if our Bill was to be defeated - thankfully, that is not going to happen and I welcome that - it would put pressure on the Government parties to amend the electoral laws to move this along. Another Bill in my name went through Second Stage but stopped after that. I do not mean to have a go at the Government - I am being sincere - when I say it has spoken about democratic reform, but some of the reforms it has made are minor. It has not taken action on some more important matters, including this one. Given that it has a maximum of a little over a year left in office - it might be out of office sooner than that - I suggest it should adopt this proposal as a means of showing it is still interested in a democratic revolution. This should be part of any democratic revolution.

I am a parent and a grandparent, but I am no expert. I struggle with trying to get it right. I have always struggled with trying to get the parenting bit right, as most of us do if we are honest with ourselves. I know that if young people are included in decision-making, presented with the facts and allowed to make judgments, that results in better adults, better young people and a better society. I urge the Government not to allow this legislation to run into the sand. It is being allowed to advance to Second Stage but it should be facilitated, encouraged and pushed forward from there. If that happens, the Government will be able to hold it up as an example of the democratic revolution. I am sure it will hold other items up as well.

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