Sean Barrett (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I echo the Leader's sentiments about the talk to be given in the House tomorrow by Professor Christopher Pissarides. He will be the first Nobel laureate to address the House since W. B. Yeats. He is from the small island of Cyprus and has obviously acquired sufficient standing in his subject to be awarded the Nobel Prize. He will talk about youth employment and afterwards the young people of the Historical Society at TCD will award him the society's gold medal. That society was founded by Edmund Burke, considered one of the great civil rights activists by both Ireland and the United States.

Yesterday the Northern Ireland Assembly voted by 51 to 29 to extend the voting age to 16 years of age. All parties - with the exception of the DUP - supported the motion which was in the name of Sinn Féin and the Green Party. The case made was that at 18 young people have left home to go either to work or to higher education and consequently they drop out of the system for a number of years. It would be much better to have them enrolled at the age of 16. After what will undoubtedly be her success next Saturday, perhaps the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy Frances Fitzgerald, might come to the House to discuss the issue of the voting age. She has been a very successful Minister and she might wish to extend the right to vote to 16 year olds who have long been worthy of that right, given the amount of civics knowledge they have which would make them superb voters and citizens. We should seriously consider following the example set at Stormont yesterday.