Aidan Farrelly (Kildare North, Social Democrats)

I thank Deputies Tóibín and Lawless for bringing the motion forward this morning. It is always meritable to have a conversation, not only about the processes for nomination but, ultimately, as we are hearing from many contributors this morning, the merits and importance of the office itself.

Notwithstanding the context, which is important in terms of when we are having this debate, it is no way to legislate to try to change the rules to reduce the thresholds because the rules did not help us get our nomination onto the ballot paper. There needs to be an evidence-informed approach to that. That is what I would be calling for today. As my colleague Deputy Rory Hearne has said, we in the Social Democrats are certainly open to a conversation because we, too, are hearing in the campaign that there is that sense of exclusion, certainly, when there is a small number of candidates on a ballot paper, but we do not throw the baby out with the bath water. The legislation has in many ways worked for many successful presidential elections we have had and the irony of Aontú calling for diversity is not lost on me. We have had a diverse range of candidates in successful presidential elections.

This election was seven years in the running. Parties' candidates had a long time to prepare their candidacies and for a diverse set of reasons, we have ended up with two candidates. What we are hearing on the doors is clear. We have seen the young people of Ireland motivated by one candidacy. We have seen a mobilisation and a movement towards one candidate that, I believe, has been inspirational, so to those who portray it as no candidate is speaking to a huge cohort, if they do their research and look up who the different candidates are, they will find something motivational, certainly about one of the candidates.

I will use the opportunity with the 30 seconds I have left to speak, once again, about what I believe is the most significant electoral reform that we should be talking about in this Dáil, that is, my Forty-first Amendment of the Constitution (Reduction of Voting Age to Sixteen Years) Bill 2025. It is before the House currently. In the UK, we will see young people aged 16 and upwards given the opportunity to vote in their next general election. We have a Bill before this House. I would urge the Government, again, to bring that before us to continue to move it forward. It will require a referendum and a national conversation about youth participation and about young people's voices, opinions and, ultimately, right to engage in the most civic action. We met hundreds of young people who wished they could vote on Friday and we are also hearing the dichotomy of that where so many people are planning to not use their votes. I would encourage everyone to use their vote on Friday.

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