Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats)

I am pleased that the young people in the Gallery today got to see the Minister of State's passion when he was talking at the end of his speech. It is clear that it is so important to who he is and who he has become to have that participation in democracy and to be involved. What we want is to bring that passion forward a little bit more so that it is not a tokenistic involvement in democracy, and that 16- and 17-year-olds are being given the vote so that what they believe and what they want to see happen is mattering at the ballot box and will make a difference in who is on these seats in five or ten years' time. I ask the Minister of State to please take that passion and belief back to his colleagues because it would appear to me that the Minister of State very much believes that this would be a positive motion or development if the Bill was put through. I ask that he express this and have the discussions with them. Do not kick this down to the Electoral Commission. The Minister of State talked about the commission as being the body that could take this complex Bill and look at it. We are employed and voted in to do that very job. We are well able to handle complex legislation. We are well able to engage with people. We are well able to talk to young people and have those discussions. Let us do our job. The commission can be involved in that as well but please do not kick this down the road for another 12 months. It is too important. I appreciate the Minister of State's positivity on this but I would ask him to use that and hopefully direct a bit of positivity from the Government benches towards the Bill.

I want to talk about COP30 briefly. Climate change is an existential crisis. The reality is that the Minister of State, many others in this Chamber and I will probably not be impacted by climate change to the same extent as young people. The decisions that are currently being made in this Chamber are being made by people who will not face the full brunt of climate change if we get it wrong. I include biodiversity loss in there as well. It is vitally important that young people are involved in those discussions and that they get a chance to say who is representing them in this Chamber when those decisions are being made.

It is their future we are speaking about and we are locking them out of the debate. When we speak about these issues and make these decisions, it is important that young people's voices are heard and that their futures are debated as part of this. We cannot be making these decisions without thinking of the young people in the Gallery and young people all over the country, because it is their futures we are debating.

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