Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The legislation before the House seeks to put a referendum to the Irish people to lower the age of eligibility for election to the Office of President. I will be supporting the Bill and supporting a "Yes" vote in the referendum.

The Constitution sets the minimum age of eligibility for a person to run for President in the Republic at 35 years. De Valera when he was explaining this stated that such a person would need to be able to exercise wise discretion. It would appear de Valera took this rule, among others, from the Weimar Republic's rules. While age may bring experience the goings-on in this House during the past years provide categoric proof that being over 35 years of age does not necessarily imbue one with the ability to exercise wise discretion.

The referendum will seek to lower the age of eligibility for election to 21 yers of age in line with the Dáil but I believe it should go further and be lowered to the age of 18 years. The Constitutional Convention recommended that the age of eligibility for election to the Dáil be reduced from 21 to 18, as it has been for the local elections. I would like this to be amended before the legislation is passed. I do not understand the rationale for having 18 versus 21 as the age of eligibility for election. It is a democratic process and it is up to the people of Ireland to decide who they want. If they believe a 19 year old is wise enough and 50 year old or a 70 year old is not wise enough, then surely it is up to the candidates to put those positions to the people. However, a move in lowering the age of eligibility for election from 35 to 21 is a significant move, at least in age terms, in the right direction and, as such, I will support it.

The problem I have is not so much with this Bill but with what this Bill is coming ahead of. We now know that the Government has heavily controlling instincts. It consolidates and centralises power. It has locked Parliament, its own backbenchers and policy professionals out of decision making. We have a maniacal control of the Whip, which I am told, by people who have been observing Parliaments for many years, is at an unprecedented level of control. We have the Economic Management Council, which did not exist prior to this Government, centralising key decision making in the country. There has been almost a refusal by the Executive to accept amendments to legislation tabled by Members of this House and in so doing it has rendered the national Legislature completely irrelevant.

National democracy in Ireland occurs about once every five years with the selection of a top team and then that top team just gets on with it. We had the ridiculous situation where the Taoiseach stuffed the banking inquiry with loyalists after the due process of the House, essentially overthrowing it, and then being so comfortable with that, he came in here and explained to us that the reason he did it was so that he could control the independent parliamentary inquiry.

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