Jillian van Turnhout (Independent)

I welcome the Minister to the House and I welcome the Bill. I was very disappointed this morning that we did not get an opportunity to debate the resolution to establish the constitutional convention. I was extremely frustrated, but I have issued a statement to outline what I would have said on that occasion. I do not have a difficulty with us using this method to select 66 members. In fact, I would have no difficulty with us selecting all 100 members. I am not convinced about the role of Oireachtas Members on the constitutional convention, because we have a platform and we will be able to look at the recommendations of the convention.

I understand the motivation behind Senator Barrett's comments on privacy, but it is about the practicalities. Perhaps the convention needs to devise some working methods about direct and unsolicited communication with members, even if it is a standard code of practice. Senator Mooney has said that many of the questions are "Yes" or "No" questions, but I think they will be much more than that. I would like to see the convention reduce the voting age to 16. The voting age was 21 until 1973, when we reduced it by three years.