Réada Cronin (Kildare North, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am very happy to speak on Second Stage of this Bill about the future of our land and the people who create the politics in it. I commend Deputy Pringle on giving us an opportunity to speak on it this evening. I did not read his piece on thejournal.ieso I will not be able to give him any notes - good, bad or indifferent. As far as Sinn Féin is concerned, our young people should have the vote at 16. There really is not a moment to waste. Attempts to push it back a year are misguided and outdated.

A few weeks ago at the climate committee, young people from all across the State came and really knocked our socks off. It was not only in their heads but in their hearts as well. They knew exactly what needed to be done and it was striking how deeply they felt it. On climate change, biodiversity and the need to live sustainably, they really got it. They knew exactly the radical change that needs to come. We had a great debate. I know people in the Green Party do not like me talking about it but the real inconvenient truth is our economic model. That is the biggest thing we have to face around climate change. We had a great debate about capitalism, billionaires and people gathering money when it really is just a unit of energy that we exchange for something else. It is really not right that the number of billionaires has increased so much. Energy is not something that should be kept or stored like that. It should move around our communities. I really worry about climate change in that regard. Those young people really got it.

If we are really interested in the future and our future generations, they should be allowed their vote and their voice. They could bring about the political change that is really necessary for our species to survive. Our planet will be all right; it is our species we should be worried about. We are kidding ourselves in here if we believe that the kind of politics that have got us where we are today over the last 100 years is going to see us through the next 100 years. I really do not believe it will. Young people know this instinctively and it is time to give them the vote at the age of 16. If we do not, we are holding them back at a critical juncture in their lives and for our species as well.

There are young people in my constituency of Kildare North who are adamant that they should have the vote at 16, and why not? Is the Government too afraid of their courage and idealism? Our Republic was declared in the main part by young, idealistic visionaries and I believe young people would have a great job to do in fashioning and shaping that promised Republic which we are still really waiting for. Why can there not be the change that is hoped for and looked for in housing, health, climate and education? Our young people would be able to tell us very much exactly what we should do. I am in awe of the young people I meet and who contact me across the island and in my constituency about the world they want to create.

I took part in a debate just before the general election in Maynooth Post Primary School. Young people were there and the chat was very good; they were very knowledgeable. There is also a particular group of boys in Naas CBS who get in touch with me around various small issues such as democracy and how it functions. They were talking to me as well about putting solar panels on the top of school buildings and how they could be used in the community as well. It is a complete no-brainer to empower them and let them have their say in campaigns and at the ballot box. In fact, I would go so far as to say that it is anti-democratic to deny our young people the vote at 16 and tell them we are not ready for them when they are ready for us. One would have to wonder about what message that sends. It infantilises our young people and delays their full engagement in the democratic process.

I believe that 16-year-olds would appreciate that vote. They would be still in school. They could engage and discuss this in their civics class, or whatever they call that now in school. It was civics when I went to school. Many teachers as well do votes and explain our democratic process to students and it is very interesting for them. They should have a right to vote.

The younger you are when you first vote, the more likely you are to vote at every general election after that. I recall my father running me out the door when I was 18 to get me on the electoral register. He was trying to get me to vote for Fianna Fáil, my mother was trying to get me to vote for the Labour Party and I went off and did something else. We should open the door wide to votes at 16 and let them into our politics.

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