Ivana Bacik (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House and I welcome the representatives of youth groups who are seated in the Gallery.

I commend Senators Ruane, Warfield and Mac Lochlainn for introducing the Bill. I wish to confirm that my Labour Party colleagues and I support Committee Stage of the Bill. My colleague, Senator Ó Ríordáin, spoke eloquently in favour of the Bill on Second Stage. The National Youth Council of Ireland, Foróige, Youth Work Ireland and the Irish Second-Level Students' Union have contacted all of us to express their support for the Bill.

I believe that the proposal is modest and deserves support. I echo the words expressed by Senator Warfield who criticised any further delay in bringing forward the legislation. The Bill simply provides for the expansion of suffrage to people who are 16 years of age and over in local and European elections. Many of us would like to see the legislation go further. Indeed, in forthcoming referendum campaigns, like the referendum and campaign on the eighth amendment, it would be very good and appropriate if the franchise was extended to 16 year olds and 17 year olds.

Senators have referenced the centenary of women's suffrage this year. As chairperson of the Vótáil 100 committee in the Oireachtas, I am glad to celebrate the expansion of suffrage to women back in 1918. Let us recall that in the years preceding the enactment of the Representation of the People Act 1918, which gave the right to vote to some women and only those over 30 years of age, the people who opposed the expansion of suffrage to women and opposed the right of women to vote expressed similar arguments to what we have heard about the right of young people to vote. For example, a lack of maturity or an inability to understand politics. Nowadays, in a contemporary and modern Ireland, we should not be afraid to extend the franchise to 16 year olds and 17 year olds, particularly in this limited way. I was proud to support the proposal some years ago at the Constitutional Convention, on behalf of the Labour Party, and I am proud to support it again today. I hope the Bill will be passed today and urge all colleagues on all sides to support same.