Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The Government is not opposed this Bill. We firmly believe, however, that before processing the Bill through the further stages of the legislative process, the full range of practical and policy issues that will arise in expanding the franchise as proposed in the Bill must be analysed.

The Government recognises the importance of voting rights for the diaspora. Following the launch of the diaspora policy last week, the Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade with special responsibility for diaspora affairs, Deputy Deenihan, released a statement detailing the range of issues that require further consideration. He also spoke in this debate about the diaspora policy.

The Bill gives rise to two broad issues for consideration, namely, the minimum age requirement to vote in elections and referendums and the extension of the franchise in presidential elections to citizens resident outside of the State. While supportive of a referendum on the proposal to reduce the voting age to 16, the Government indicated during the debate on Deputy Stanley's Private Members' Bill on 6 February last that there were outstanding issues requiring further analysis before an amendment to the Constitution would be recommended to the people. These include the wisdom of setting the voting age at 16 when the age of majority is 18. My colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Nash, outlined in his contribution to this debate some specific examples of areas where further analysis is required.

I accept that an extension of voting rights to citizens resident outside the State would be welcomed by many in the diaspora. I also know, however, that it would be challenging to introduce and manage. For example, while citizens resident outside the State should be entitled to vote in presidential elections, the wider Irish diaspora is estimated by some at 70 million people and the number of those who are entitled to Irish citizenship is not known. Any consideration of extending the presidential election franchise to Irish citizens overseas would need to include consideration of people resident in Northern Ireland. The implications for Northern Ireland would differ from other parts of the world. Voter registration options to accommodate voters resident outside the State would need to be explored. We would also need to consider the ways in which voting might be undertaken. References were made to voting at diplomatic missions, for example, and to postal voting options.

The diaspora debate is wider than the franchise issue. It was only last week that our first ever policy statement on diaspora issues was published. The policy document outlines the significant measures that are being taken to recognise the importance of our diaspora. We should not overlook these in this debate. I repeat that the Government is not opposing this Bill. Any proposals to amend the Constitution should, however, be accompanied by a full and considered analysis of the implementation of the proposals, the potential consequences of the amendment and the estimated costs arising. There is a job of work to be done on this and it will be undertaken before this Bill proceeds through the further stages of the legislative process. We will not oppose the Bill, which has given us the opportunity to have a very worthwhile debate.

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