Aidan Farrelly (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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Tairgim: “Go léifear an Bille don Dara hUair anois.”

I move: “That the Bill be now read a Second Time.”

I thank my friends in the Social Democrats for the opportunity to bring what I believe to be potentially momentous legislation to Second Stage this evening. Before I continue, I am thrilled to welcome so many young people and youth workers to the Gallery, representing organisations like the National Youth Council of Ireland, Foróige, BeLong To and the Irish Second-Level Students' Union, ISSU. I thank them all for taking the time to come here today to witness what is a really important debate.

On a given day, colleagues across this House debate an eclectic mix of issues, with varying degrees of opinion and agreement. Today, I present this House today with an opportunity. It is an opportunity for us in the Thirty-fourth Dáil to make provisions for the most significant piece of electoral reform in recent history and allow the people of Ireland to have their say as to whether 16- and 17-year-olds can vote in future elections. I believe in young people. Together, we have the time to develop a legislative pathway towards a referendum, which makes this Government's proposed timed amendment, lodged today, quite disappointing. In July, the UK Government confirmed its intention to legislate for the reduction of the voting age there to 16 in time for the next general election. This means that approximately 48,000 young people in Northern Ireland will be entitled to vote in that election. As we know, that opportunity is not afforded to their counterparts in the Republic.

The UK is not alone. As the Minister will know, some 14 other countries have extended voting rights to 16- and 17-year-olds, for municipal, European and-or general elections and referendums. Countries like Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Estonia, Germany, Scotland, Switzerland and Wales - the UK will soon join them - have extended the franchise to those aged 16. This is a list I would love Ireland to join. I take this opportunity to commend Senator Ruane and former Senator Warfield, Deputies McLoughlin, Byrne, McGreehan and former Deputy Thomas Pringle, who all introduced similar Bills on extending voting rights to those aged 16 in recent years. The Bill before the House is a little different, however. The advice from the Office of the Parliamentary Legal Advisers, OPLA, tells us we cannot differentiate between local and general elections. Research tells us we should avoid partial enfranchisement. It is therefore incumbent on us to seize this opportunity to ensure voting rights are extended to 16-year-olds.

Adolescence is often a time of transition, a time of changes and a period of progression from childhood to adulthood. Some of the recent discourse in this House about young people focused on challenges associated with this time of our lives, whether about a lack of access to services or punitive discussions about antisocial behaviour orders, ASBOs, crime and fear. Many in this House are guilty of undermining the competency, maturity and resilience that young people are capable of possessing and, in doing so, risk categorising this demographic only as anti-social and impulsive. This could not be further from the truth. Now, more than ever, young people need champions in this House. They deserve advocates across this House who believe in them.

Let us look briefly at some of the ways young people have shown leadership in our country. These include the Fridays for Future endeavour, an example that awoke in us a critical consciousness about the reform needed when we are facing the most existential crisis in climate change and climate justice. More recently, young people have been at the forefront in advocating for disability rights, access to services and therapeutic assessment.

I have been a youth worker for nearly 17 years. In that time, I have worked with thousands of young people. These are young people who have opinions and ideas and who are political and hopeful. They are informed and care deeply about their community and society. Too many, however, are frustrated and disempowered. They are frustrated at being seen as a problem for the future, and disempowered in that their voice does not matter until they turn 18. What do we know? We know that at 16, young people can work and pay taxes. Yet they have no way of choosing how those taxes are allocated. People like us go to the ballot box. Young people do not have that opportunity. They can consent to medical treatment offered by the HSE at 16 years of age. At 17, a young person can drive an eight-seater car.

The question before us today is not one of maturity; it is equality. It is not a question of competency. It is about fairness.

Research in countries that have facilitated voting rights for 16-year-olds tell us two really important things. First, where young people at 16 have a vote, there has been no impact on the election results whatsoever. Second, young people at 16 are more likely to use their vote than if given it at 18. The Bill before us today, if passed in a referendum, would have no significant impact on the results of any election.

More importantly, we all have a bigger elephant in the room. Turnout at the most recent presidential election was just 45.8%. The general election turnout was 59.7%. The local elections in 2024 were 49.4% and this is in sharp contrast to the energy and enthusiasm for all elections I see when I visit schools around this country and when I work with youth services and youth groups. Ahead of every election, young people are talking about candidates, parties, manifestos or pledges but, more importantly, they are talking about the issues that face them in the same way they face the Minister of State or me but we can use our vote to express our opinion.

Electoral reform, as is proposed today, would be a seismic attempt to increase civic participation and, ultimately, voter turnout. The Taoiseach said this year that he was not against it. He did not have an issue with reducing it to 16 and he said that the Government would give that serious consideration. Here we are. It is time for that serious consideration. The first report of the Convention on the Constitution in 2013 recommended lowering the voting age to 16 and here, in 2025, we have that opportunity. It is an opportunity to instigate a process and to allow the people of Ireland to have their say.

The Government is proposing to delay this conversation for 12 months - for what, I do not know, and I look forward to the Minister of State's response. I am going to preface it by thinking that whatever is going to happen in that 12 months could happen on Committee Stage and I say that respectfully. I want to say to the 16- and 17-year-olds of this country that they are not a problem for the future. In fact, like many other countries, we believe in their voice and their vote and we trust them.

Holly Cairns (Cork South-West, Social Democrats)
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I welcome everybody in the Gallery. It is great to have them here today. I thank my colleague, Deputy Farrelly, for all of his passion and hard work on this issue.

Sixteen-year-olds in Ireland are mature enough to work, pay taxes, care for family members and make their own medical decisions. If they are old enough to make those choices and contribute to society in those ways, why would they not be allowed to vote? We should be actively looking for more ways for them to participate in our democracy, not to continue to exclude them from it. The young people I meet are engaged, thoughtful and politically aware. They deserve a say in the fact that they are working for a sub-minimum wage. They deserve a say in the failure to take action on the climate crisis that will affect their generation more than any other. They deserve to see a future for themselves in Ireland where they can afford to live in the communities they are growing up in. Young people deserve the right to vote. Other countries like Austria, Scotland and Malta have already taken this step and the evidence is clear. When young people are trusted to vote, they take that responsibility seriously, they turn out and they stay engaged. We should be racing to follow that example, not dragging our heels.

Lowering the voting age is about saying to young people that we see you, we value you and we trust you. This is not just about age; it is about access. I know all too well how powerful a single vote can be. I tell the story of winning my first election by one vote quite often to try to energise people because too often, people feel like their vote does not matter and their one vote will never be the one that makes a difference. Having experienced that whole "one vote" debacle, I never want to contemplate not being able to vote myself again. Of course, my baby decided to arrive on polling day last year and like every other person on the maternity ward that day, I could not vote in the general election. It is frankly scary how easily people can be locked out of our democratic process - people in hospital, people on holiday, citizens in the North, long-term residents who just cannot afford citizenship and those who have recently emigrated. All of them have a right to be heard but so many cannot vote.

We need to change that. If we truly believe in democracy, we must make it easier for people to participate, not harder. That means expanding access to postal voting, having polling stations in hospitals, looking at automatic voter registration and recognising the rights of people in the North to have a say in shaping our shared future. The principle is simple: every person who wants to take part in our democracy should be able to do so.

Lowering the voting age to 16 is part of that vision. It is a step towards a more open and inclusive republic. We have an opportunity to inspire a new generation of voters and to show them that their voices matter now and not later.

Jen Cummins (Dublin South Central, Social Democrats)
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First, I wish to commend my colleague, Dr. Aidan Farrelly, on his work on this Bill. For the benefit of those people in the Chamber who do not know, Deputy Farrelly is not just a TD and spokesperson for young people but he is also an expert in the area of youth work. His PhD work was about youth work, so it can safely be said of Deputy Farrelly that he is extremely well placed to bring this Bill forward, having worked as a youth worker and achieved the highest level of education in this area.

I was also a youth worker and researcher in this area and I say that because it is important to know that Bills like this are coming from research, evidence and lived experience. As far back as 2004, I was a board member of the National Youth Council, which is very welcome here again today. I remember we were on Grafton Street giving out information leaflets to passers by on the merits of lowering the voting age. I remember that year clearly because I have a photo - a printed-out photo because I am quite old - of my daughter, who was in a buggy. She is 21 now.

This debate has sparked comments that 16- and 17-year-olds are too young to have a clue about voting. I beg to differ, and I will give the House some examples as to why I do not think this is true. I will say, as an aside, that many adults also do not have a clue how to vote or register to vote and have never voted, so this is not an age thing. It is an education and civic society matter.

When I was a candidate in the local and general elections in 2024, I had many encounters with young people asking me a wide variety of questions, be that at the door or on the road and, indeed, I was sent surveys. I have an example from a primary school, whose students would not be able to vote because they would not have reached the age of 16 but it shows how well our education system is doing to engage young people in the political system. I was sent a survey by St. Brigid's Primary School, the Coombe, and they asked me loads of questions about the local area and how I would improve it if I was elected. They asked me to explain my values and when they got the information from all the candidates, they collated it and their teacher helped them to have an election. They had an election and I know the outcome but I am not going to say what it was. They were already engaged in primary school.

When I was a candidate at that time, I also visited the Solas Project, which is a youth service in Dublin 8 that works with five- to 24-year-olds. They asked candidates to give them a two-minute pitch and then they asked us questions. The questions were really hard and very thorough and they also got to ask us follow-on questions. They did this, with potential politicians and people who were already politicians, in a respectful, intelligent and excellent way. When I became a Dublin city councillor, I had a visit from St. Kilian's German School in Clonskeagh and they gave me a grilling for almost three hours on topics I had not even thought about. They had ideas and notions I had never thought about and they helped me realise I had a lot more thinking to do as a city councillor and now as a TD. They knew their stuff and on top of knowing their stuff, they knew how to communicate it as well.

The world will not fall in if 16- and 17-year-olds are given the right to vote. As our briefing document states, it already happens in several other countries. In Argentina and Austria, they have the right to vote in all elections. In Germany, they have the right to vote in European elections and some state elections. What we know is that people who are interested in voting will vote and those who are not interested in voting will not vote and age is not a factor in this.

Pádraig Rice (Cork South-Central, Social Democrats)
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First, I congratulate my colleague, Deputy Farrelly, on bringing forward this proposal, leading on it, setting this out and being a champion on this issue.

I am very disappointed by the Government's response of kicking this issue down the road. We have young people who really want to engage with the democratic process and have their say. People who are aged 16 and 17 now will be aged 17 and 18 a year from now. By the time the Government finally gets its act together, they will be aged 18 and over, so this matter is time sensitive and we need to make progress on it. The Minister for justice, Deputy O'Callaghan, stated recently that if the Social Democrats brought forward legislation, the Government would give it serious consideration. I do not think a timed amendment is serious consideration. If the Government was genuinely serious, it would engage with us, move this Bill forward to Committee Stage, listen to both the arguments put forward and to young people and genuinely engage. We could do that over a number of months and have a debate on this important issue. Introducing a timed amendment, a route the Government also took in respect of our Bill in the Seanad a number of weeks ago, is the wrong approach. I ask the Government to reconsider its approach to this and actually give this issue serious consideration, listen to the arguments, to young people and the Opposition and work together on this important issue.

As my colleague said, there is now a global movement to reduce the voting age. We have seen it in Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Cuba, Ecuador, Germany, Malta, Nicaragua, Scotland, Wales and Greece. There is a movement across the world to increase participation among young people by lowering the voting age. We know the UK Government intends to lower the voting age. In recent weeks in the Netherlands, D66, which won the election there, put the ability to vote at 16 at the heart of its manifesto. This will happen here too, and we will get there despite the resistance on the part of the Government.

It is worth looking at some of the evidence. There are three strong arguments in particular. One concerns increasing civic participation and lowering the barriers to registration. Research demonstrates that there is a trickle-up effect on participation when 16- and 17-year-olds are eligible to vote. It provides for younger people to not only engage in civic life but also to participate in conversation about politics and local issues. This is particularly true given that many 16- and 17-year-olds still live at home with their families, where discussions and debates take place with other family members and where there are also then fewer barriers to them engaging and registering. There is support and encouragement to be part of those discussions.

We also know that there is increased turnout when the voting age is reduced. A detailed study on voter ages and habits in Denmark found that 18-year-olds were more likely to cast their first vote than 19-year-olds and that every extra month of age saw a decline in first vote turnout. These results demonstrate that by lowering the voting age we are likely to see a higher turnout in this cohort. Also, allowing 16- and 17-year-olds to vote in local elections would allow them to vote before leaving home or school and establish the lifelong habit of voting. It is very likely that people who are turning 18 today may not get their first chance to vote until they are 21. According to the evidence, at that stage those in this cohort are less likely to continue the habit of voting because their first vote will happen much later. Data from Austria shows that extending voting rights to people after they turn 16 promotes higher turnout for first-time voting and over the course of their lives. Research also shows that for the first two elections one is eligible to vote in establishes that attitude towards voting and the lifelong pattern of voting. The Austrian experience also that demonstrates 16- and 17-year-olds are ready to participate and want to participate, and are eager to do so.

Scotland extended the franchise to 16- and 17-year-olds in the independence referendum. More than 100,000 young people came out and voted in that referendum. Following the success of that, the Scottish Government decided to lower the voting age for Scottish parliamentary elections. There is strong evidence in neighbouring countries and right around the world about increasing participation by involving young people in this.

In my constituency of Cork South-Central, young people want to be involved and want their views to be heard. I have been travelling around schools in my constituency since the election. Just last week I visited Carrigaline Community School and talked to young people there about this matter. The majority of them want the right to vote and to have their say. At the moment, issues that affect young people are ignored by politicians because those people cannot vote. I refer to issues such as public transport for young people, student fees and housing. Many of the issues that directly affect young people in this country are not discussed on the floor of this Chamber or at local councils because young people do not have the right to vote, and they are not heard by politicians. This has to change now. I urge the Government to reverse its position, to engage with us and to give young people the right to vote in elections.

Colm Brophy (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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Tairgim:

Go scriosfar na focail go léir i ndiaidh "Go" agus go gcuirfear an méid seo a leanas ina n-ionad:

"mbeartaíonn Dáil Éireann go measfar an Bille um an Aonú Leasú is Daichead ar an mBunreacht (An Aois Vótála a Laghdú go Sé Bliana Déag), 2025 a bheith léite an Dara hUair 12 mhí ó inniu, le tuilleadh breithniú ar an mBille a cheadú.".

I move:

To delete all words after "That" and substitute the following:

"Dáil Éireann resolves that the Forty-first Amendment of the Constitution (Reduction of Voting Age to Sixteen Years) Bill 2025, be deemed to be read a second time this day twelve months, to allow for further consideration of the Bill.".

I am pleased to participate in this debate. I thank Deputy Farrelly for bringing forward the Bill and for raising this very important issue. Democracy is an essential component of our country. Ireland is one of the longest continuous democracies in the western world. We do not and cannot take our democracy for granted, and we should acknowledge the fact that we have had 103 years of continuous democracy.

Voting is central to democracy. The laws around voting and eligibility to vote should always be taken seriously. We must be open to new ideas but careful in how we respond to them in equal measure. This Bill proposes to amend Article 16 of the Constitution to lower the age at which persons would be entitled to vote in Dail Eireann elections from 18 years of age to 16. At present, a person must be aged 18 years or over to be eligible to vote in any electoral event, be it a general election, presidential election, local or Limerick mayoral election, European Parliament election or referendum. Article 16 of the Constitution states that those who have reached the age of 18 shall have the right to vote at an election for Members of Dail Eireann. Article 12, relating to the President, Article 47, relating to referendums, and Article 28A, relating to local government, state that citizens eligible to vote in Dail elections are eligible to vote in such polls. A reduction in the voting age in Dail elections would have a consequential effect of reducing the voting age at presidential and local elections, including Limerick mayoral elections, as well as at referendums.

The reason the Government is proposing a deferral of the Second Stage reading of the Bill is that the issue of the voting age is currently being examined by the Electoral Commission as part of its research programme for the period 2024 to 2026. My colleague, the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Browne, is of the view that it would be premature to progress the Bill at this time in advance of the commission having considered and reported on the issue.

One of the reasons we need to consider in this debate is the issue of parity of minimum voting age between the different electoral codes. At present, the minimum voting age for all types of elections and referendums is 18. The proposed change also raises the issue of parity of minimum voting age between all codes.

In political, civic and academic circles in Ireland, the issue of lowering the minimum voting age has been debated for a number of years. This debate has happened within the context of change in other countries, including, as has been mentioned, in Scotland and Wales, where the voting age is 16 for the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Assembly and their respective local elections. Scottish 16- and 17-year-olds were able to vote in the 2014 referendum on independence, as was mentioned. The Isle of Man and the Channel Islands have also lowered the voting age to 16 for elections. The voting age for national elections in EU is 18, with the exception of four countries. Austria and Malta allow 16-year-olds to vote in national elections. Greece allows 17-year-olds to vote in such elections. At the next national elections in Cyprus, due in 2026, the voting age will be 17. In 22 of the EU’s 27 member states, the minimum voting age in last year’s European Parliament elections was 18.

Here in Ireland, the issue of lowering the minimum voting age to 17 was debated by the Convention on the Constitution back in 2013. At that time, a slim majority of the assembled citizens and parliamentarians, 52%, favoured reducing the minimum voting age for all elections. If the minimum voting age were to be changed, 48% of participants supported lowering the age to 16, compared with 39% who favoured lowering the age to 17. A sizeable majority, 68% of participants, opposed lowering the minimum voting age for some types of elections but not all and 28% of the participants supported lowering it for some electoral events but not all.

Among the arguments used at that time for lowering the minimum voting age were: the fact that people of 16 and 17 enjoy other legal rights and that it is important that they have a say in who governs them; that if lowering the voting age coincides with better political awareness and education, voter participation among young people would increase - research has shown that if voters vote in the first elections that they are eligible for, they are more likely to form a voting habit and vote throughout their lives; that initial political engagement is best placed happening within the stable environment of schooling rather than during college years, when there is great change in people’s lives; and that the increased civic education of young people through the school curriculum prepares people at an earlier age than previously for engagement with the political process.

On the other hand, among the arguments used for maintaining the current age of 18 were: that 16- or 17-year-olds may not be mature enough to make decisions on who should represent them or govern them; that other rights are gained at 18 years of age; that lowering the minimum voting age to 16 or 17 is an arbitrary decision about when young people are ready to vote; and that maturity is a process rather than something someone obtains at a certain age.

It was mentioned that telling 16- or 17-year-olds that they had the responsibility or duty to vote was viewed by some as an additional expectation on teenagers. Other points made were that it was not a panacea for the lower turnout rates among younger people than among other age cohorts or that the motive for such reform can be partisan, as there is a perception sometimes that younger people tend to vote for left of centre parties, although I do not think this last is borne out by the research in the few countries where the voting age has been lowered to 16.

Whatever the different views on this issue, I suggest that we are better placed to have this debate now than we were when the convention had its deliberation. We now have the Electoral Commission, which is well placed to look at issues like this, which are complex and nuanced, and to engage with international comparisons. There has been more time since other jurisdictions lowered their minimum voting age and lessons from their experiences can be used to inform our debate. Civic education in Ireland has increased and expanded. Leaving certificate students can study politics and society, which is something they could not do ten years ago. We also have lessons from the education system's experience in teaching secondary school students matters relating to citizenship, democracy and related matters.

As someone who joined a political party at 13 or 14 years of age, I have absolutely always believed in the importance of youth participation. I had the honour of heading up the political youth movement of my party. I believe in getting involved early and in the importance of having your voice heard. It is something I can see all the arguments on. I have been passionate since that age in my life when I used to - and perhaps one of the other Deputies also mentioned it - sit and have those arguments at the family table with my dad. My dad and I never agreed on the same politics and I think it really hones your argument when you come from a family where you can have those discussions that actually cause you to break out and be challenged in your thinking. I believe this is done really well in family environments, when people are teenagers, and when people have opportunities to engage. I went to the local community school in Cabinteely and we used to organise brilliant civics weeks. We would put candidates up for election from all political parties. We had the local TDs and Ministers come in and deliver speeches. If someone had told me I was going to be one of those in 20-something years' time, I would have laughed at them, to be honest. I would not have believed them. That is the real importance of participation for young people in the democratic process. It is about being involved in youth organisations, including political youth organisations. Having a say and having it heard is important. I just wanted to put forward my own experience on that from a personal background.

I thank Deputy Farrelly for tabling the Bill, which I have no doubt will help generate a positive debate on what the minimum voting age in Ireland should be. I believe the debate is a really important one. A decision in this area requires considered research and analysis before it can be made. In that regard, I look forward to the Electoral Commission's research on the matter and to all the contributions from Deputies here today.

Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats)
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It is welcome to hear the Aire Stáit's passion and interest in this area. I have something in common with him, in that I spent a lot of time having discussions with my poor dad. He did not agree with me on anything. Perhaps if we had done an exchange at that stage, there might have been more in common.

I welcome the leadership that my colleague Aidan Farrelly has shown on raising this issue. I also welcome the young people in the Public Gallery. I especially want to welcome the young people from the National Youth Council of Ireland, NYCI, and BeLonG To. I will take this opportunity to congratulate Mr. Mick Ferron on his recent appointment as NYCI director. Mr. Ferron is known well to me in terms of the Trojan work he has done for the last 20 years in Sphere 17 in Darndale in my and Deputy Mitchell's constituency. We are delighted to see him take on that role.

The crux of the issue is that, collectively in this Dáil, there is a strong view that voting and civic engagement are positive. I think we all have that view. We all value our democracy and we want to see as much civic participation and engagement in the political process as possible. That is absolutely fundamental in a democracy. A weakness in our democracy is when we have low levels of engagement and low levels of participation. We know that the current situation, where there are low levels of participation, which can happen in particular cohorts or particular communities where people feel left behind, is not healthy for our democracy and we want to have that addressed. The evidence shows very clearly that, where a younger voting age of 16 is introduced, it leads to higher levels of engagement and participation in the years thereafter when people go to vote. One gets higher levels of turnout. All of us want to see higher levels of turnout and we are in agreement on that. That is what this would do. It really is a win-win measure for democracy, civic participation, engagement and safeguarding our democracy. The more people who are involved, the more who are engaged and the more who are looking at what we are doing and holding us to account - everyone in government, everyone in opposition and every different party, including the Independents - then the stronger our democracy and the better the outcomes will be for everybody. That is what it boils down to.

Climate change, housing and the lack of investment in public transport often affect young people the most. Having the voice of young people in the political system through voting will help to bring about change in core areas that will benefit all of us. It will help to get more pressure to have the action we need on housing, the action we need on addressing climate, the action we need on mental health, and the action we need on investment in public transport. Getting that younger participation through voting will drive critical change. That will be good for all of us.

In Scotland, we have seen how this has worked. We have seen the research from Scotland and other countries on how this has worked and is successful. As the Minister of State said, if there is a fear that this leads to different outcomes, the research shows it does not. Would it not be great if everyone voted centre left because they were young? It turns out, however, that young people vote centre left, left, centre right and everything in between, the same as the rest of the population.

Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats)
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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.

Rory Hearne (Dublin North-West, Social Democrats)
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I thank Deputy Farrelly for introducing the Bill. Dr. Farrelly and I were lecturers together in the department of applied social studies in Maynooth, and one of the areas he worked on in particular, as was spoken about, was the issue of youth work. His research has been in this area and he is one of the foremost experts in the country on it. We really need to take seriously the evidence base understanding and the experiential understanding of young people and what they need and what they are looking for.

I want to speak very briefly about what is facing our young people today. Look at the things they talk about in particular. Mental health is a major issue. There is so much isolation and people feeling undervalued. I welcome the young people in the Gallery. They have a sense of not being listened to and being unheard. This is not just happening in Ireland; it is happening across the world. The mental health of our young people is declining. We need to engage them seriously in developing solutions so we can help address the mental health disaster affecting our young people.

Part of this is the issue of housing, their future and what future they see in this country. Surveys show that young people see emigrating as their future. They do not see a future here. There is a real opportunity to give young people hope. We give them hope by respecting them and valuing them as equals. A key way to do this would be to give them the right to vote, and give them the ability to partake and be valued as equal citizens. I see this in my constituency, working with youth services in places such as Finglas and Ballymun. I see the disconnect with young people. They look at politicians and the Government and all they see are older people making decisions that seem to make their lives worse or at least do not help them. This would be a real way of valuing young people as equals.

I remember being a student at 17 and going to university. One of the first political things I did in my life was to organise a petition to try to get the date of the general election changed from a Friday to a weekend. I felt it was disadvantaging students from engaging in politics. We need to look at the ways in which we run our elections and referendums to ensure they increase participation, particularly for young people. They need actions that show we value them and care and want to give them a stake in society. This would be a key area.

Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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Fáilte to everybody in the Gallery. I am delighted to see them here today. I thank the Social Democrats for tabling the Bill. We remember the Electoral (Amendment) (Voting at 16) Bill 2016. We restored it to the Order Paper in the Seanad in 2021 and it was seconded by Senator Ruane. We are a long time at this; we are too long at it. The Minister of State knows from his contribution that we are too long at it. I ask him not to let the permanent government get in the way of this. This is a political measure that needs to be taken. As was said, we can do it here ourselves and we need to do it.

We cannot say that on one hand we are listening to youth groups and to young people and, at the same time, say they cannot have what they are asking for. It is vital that we do this. At the age of 16, people know the difference between right and wrong. In fact, there are many people who are 86 who do not know the difference between right and wrong. We see how things have evolved over the years.

Even at 16, while I may not have been party political, I was certainly very interested in what was happening on our island. I was very shocked and appalled by the fact that so much was happening in the North. It was always of interest to me. As a child, I could never make sense of the fact that a tiny island like ours was divided and that part of our island was owned by another island. That still does not make sense to me today. It did not make sense to me when I was 15 either or even younger than that. We do a disservice by not lowering the age.

I respectfully ask the Minister of State to take the amendment off the table. We are talking about 24 months. It is the two years between 16 and 18. That is all we are talking about. I commend all the youth groups and the campaign that has led on this for years. In fact, some of the people who were involved in the campaign now have children themselves. We do not want to let this continue.

As a TD who comes from Mayo, we see that what happens is people, like my two sons, go to college. If they are not registered to vote before they leave home, where do they register for their four or six years in college? It is not right and this all builds into the low turnout of young people voting.

I welcome the Assembly lowering the age to 16, which happened recently, but then, just down the road, 16-year-olds cannot vote. We have to correct this. I have long believed that a lot of Government- and EU-funded groups, such as LEADER, should be obligated to have youth boards in their decision-making. Young people need to be involved in the decisions being made that impact them most. What is the Government afraid of? I do not say this cynically. No more than giving the vote to Irish citizens in the North or the diaspora, it is time to be confident about this and to be confident in the ability of young people, and the ability and insight of Irish citizens everywhere, particularly on the rest of our island.

Obviously, there has to be an education programme with it also but I would not be concerned about the arguments that teachers are going to influence young people in how to vote. Have you ever tried to convince a 16-year-old to do something they did not want to do? Good luck with that. People are well able to make up their own minds but it would bring onto the curriculum the things that need to be discussed. These are things that are being discussed anyway about education, climate, transport, health and housing. Young people are discussing these things in their own groups. They just need to be able to have a say in votes. It would be a shame on all of our houses if we go beyond this without progressing this legislation to lower the voting age to 16. There are so many reasons we have to do the right thing here and the Minister of State knows it.

Denise Mitchell (Dublin Bay North, Sinn Fein)
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I will begin by welcoming the Minister of State's very passionate contribution but I have to say that here we go again, another Bill tabled by the Opposition and another delay by the Government. The exact same thing happened last week with Deputy Ó Snodaigh's Bill on the arts. I will not get started on the presidential voting rights because, as the Minister of State knows, there has been delay after delay. Is this a tactic the Government is bringing forward just to delay sensible proposals being tabled by the Opposition?

I thank the Social Democrats for tabling the Bill on lowering the voting age. It is something for which my party and I have called for a long time and something that I strongly support. I want to start by addressing the arguments we often hear against this.

Usually, it is something alone the lines of young people are not mature enough to vote or they do not have any life experience. The National Youth Council of Ireland, which strongly backs the lowering of voting age, has noted that 17-year-olds can leave school. They can seek full time employment. They can pay tax. They can drive a car. Why can we not trust them to vote? There are young people who take on enormous amounts of responsibility in their own communities. Many teenagers are carers for loved ones in their families. Others volunteer their time in sports clubs and community groups. The reality is that young people have never been more involved in political discussions than they are now.

I see it in my own area. Young people involved in Sphere 17, our local youth group, are working day-in, day-out to improve their community and are campaigning for better resources. Young people have been way ahead of most adults when it comes to mobilising on issues like climate change. We just have to look at the huge number of young people at the demonstrations on Gaza. I trust our 16- and 17-year-olds to be responsible, to inform themselves and take their right to vote very seriously because they have a stake in their communities. They know the decisions that are made in this House affect their future.

The reality is that it has worked in other countries. There have been decisions to lower the age in certain elections in Estonia, Malta and some of the German states but the most important case to look at is Scotland. It has been over a decade since the change was brought in there and results show that young people who voted at the age of 16 or 17 during the Scottish independence referendum have been more likely to vote in other elections since then. It had a positive effect on increasing engagement. Before that change, people in Scotland were not convinced this was a good idea. In fact, only one third of adults supported votes for 16- and 17-year-olds. After the referendum, though, and having seen how well informed young people were, the polls now show that the majority of people actually support it.

This Bill is very welcome but it is a part of a broader reform we need to see when it comes to our democracy. We have a situation where the ability to vote via postal vote is incredibly restricted. People who are studying abroad, those on holidays or even those on business cannot cast their vote. That seriously needs to be looked at. We also have a situation where we have citizens living in the North who have no vote. Extending the vote in presidential elections to Irish citizens living in the North is an important step.

Young people are a lot more clued in than some people give them credit for. If we want to see more engagement in politics and get people to come out and vote, getting them interested in politics at an early age is key to doing that.

Réada Cronin (Kildare North, Sinn Fein)
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I welcome the young people to the Gallery. It is great to have so many people in the gallery on a Thursday afternoon. I give a special mention to Paul Minnock and Charlotte Minnock, who are with me on work experience. Ba mhaith liom mo bhuíochas a ghabháil leis na Daonlathaithe Sóisialta as ucht an rún seo a chur os comhair na Dála inniu. Tá sé tábhachtach go bhfuil guth ag daoine óga sa lá atá inniu ann. It is very important that young people are heard and not simply seen. Their involvement in politics can be inspired from a young age. I salute an Teachta Farrelly, my north Kildare comrade, for tabling this Bill. It is the young people, after all, who will face the consequences of the actions we take inside this Chamber more than any of us. They are acutely aware of that fact.

The young people of today are more political than any others I have seen before. They are learning about the effects of climate change every day in school and understand that this issue may not be top of the political priority list for today's politicians. You would know that if you attended any of the climate committees. It was full to the brim in the previous term. Unfortunately, we are lucky to get four or five members this term. It is really important for our young people that we make sure we deal with climate change. As we speak, COP30 is underway with leaders of the world attending in the hopes of building consensus around actions on climate change. How many more COPs must we have before we see genuine action taken, not just words, on that issue?

Our Taoiseach has said that he travelled to Brazil to attend COP to show Ireland's commitments to climate resolutions. He also said he went to demonstrate to other countries that were absent that Ireland was serious about tackling climate change. I hope he talks to some of his members on the climate committee and makes sure they are not absent from the climate committee and actually engage on this issue, considering how important it is. How can he possibly say this when his Government has failed to meet modest national targets set at home? We are not taking climate change and climate action seriously. Young people know this best. They know this because they are politically engaged on issues like this and social justice. These are issues that directly affect them and they want to lead the conversation on these topics, not be talked down to by politicians like the Minister of State or me.

If we look at the international perspective, the evidence of young people engaged in politics is even more obvious. The Gen Z protests in south-east Asia shocked many when young people organised online to bring down corrupt governments in Nepal and elsewhere there. Nepal was particularly striking, as there was rampant corruption among Nepalese Government officials. It was well known but little action was taken. It was only through a server on Discord that young people convened and decided that enough was enough. Not only did they take action to overthrow their Government, but they also continued to raise their voice and shape their own future by holding a vote online to decide who they thought should be the next leader.

This is democracy in action and was carried out by young people who were previously thought to be too online to actually be engaged in politics. However, these stereotypes continue at home. I mentioned my two transition year students earlier. They are in here on work experience with me. They are from Confey College in Leixlip. They are only delighted to get the opportunity to come up today to Leinster House and see democracy in action. They have ideas. They care about housing. They care about climate change. They care about being heard. They have opinions on issues like everybody else, whether it is the arts or social justice, yet their opinions are essentially dismissed by us when we tell them they have to wait and they do not have a voice until they are 18 years old. Caithfimid éisteacht le daoine óga agus tacú leo freisin.

One of the best things I always remember from when I was young was how in a hurry I was to grow up because of the thoughts of being able to go into town on my own, being able to go to the disco that was only for the older people or whatever it was. We always had one eye to the future. I believe that if you extend the responsibility of voting to people of 16 and 17, they will take that with great seriousness and genuinely think about who they want to vote for and why. I remember myself when I was young, my father told me to go out and vote 1, 2 and 3 for Fianna Fáil.

Malcolm Byrne (Wicklow-Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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A wise man.

Réada Cronin (Kildare North, Sinn Fein)
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I did not heed him. My mother told me to go out and vote for the Labour Party.

Conor Sheehan (Limerick City, Labour)
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A wise woman.

Réada Cronin (Kildare North, Sinn Fein)
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I did my own thing because I always believed in a united Ireland as well.

This is my last point and we have to take it very seriously. We are currently in a world of political extremism where young people can be easily sucked into a world view that is built on misinformation and deception. Young people who use the Internet a lot are particularly susceptible to this world view but I really believe that we can inspire young people to engage in the world around them by showing them their voice is as important as ours. Not only that, but they will have a genuine say in what they think the world should look at in the next few years. As the old saying goes, mol an óige agus tiocfaidh sí.

Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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I welcome the opportunity to speak on this Bill. I thank the Social Democrats for tabling it. Votes for 16- and 17-year-olds is a matter of fairness. In my opinion and that of my party, it is a matter of the future vitality of our democracy. For too long, we have clung to the arbitrary line in the sand drawn at 18. We tell our young people that on the eve of their 18th birthday, they are disengaged, uninformed and unprepared for the solemn act of voting.