John Paul Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will try to address each of the Senators individually. It is indeed a short piece of legislation and I commend the Senators who produced the Bill, namely, Senators Warfield, Ruane and Mac Lochlainn, who is young, despite his protestations earlier as I was trying to interrupt him. The only interruption I made was to say that his beard makes him look young.

The Government and I support the reduction of the voting age to 16, but we oppose this legislation on the basis of the decision made last September to publish a list of upcoming referendums. One of these, on the eighth amendment, is to be held this summer. Two are scheduled for the fall of this year, on blasphemy and on the provisions in the Constitution regarding women, respectively. At the same time, there is the possibility of plebiscites in Dublin and Cork with regard to directly elected mayors. The next scheduled referendum concerns the reduction of the voting age, and this is due to coincide with the local and European elections in 2019.

I wish that I could say, particularly to the people in the Visitors Gallery, that it would happen sooner. I made a decision approximately 20 years ago, roughly around this time, to stand for local government. I was 19 years of age. My parents, friends and family thought I was absolutely mad, but it was the correct decision for me and I do not regret it for one minute. The Acting Chairman spoke about parties getting people involved. I joined my party when I was 15. I was not a fund-raiser, but I was a leaflet dropper, canvasser and campaigner.

I commend most of the contributions. I could not disagree with much of what was said by Senators across the House. Senator Warfield mentioned 29 March 2017, when this Bill was on Second Stage. The Government decision to outline when the list of eight referendums would be held was made on 26 September. We could all argue about the timing of different referendums, but the ones that are scheduled prior to the voting age are equally important measures.

One of the privileges I have, after spending nine years as a Member of this House, is the assistance of officials who help me in my role as Minister of State. I had their assistance in looking back at the results of the questions on the issue of voting age that were put at the Constitutional Convention. This Chamber, including the people who are watching and those in the Visitors Gallery, is not very reflective of what the convention said, if we are honest. It said that 52 of those who voted were in favour of reducing the voting age, 47 were not, and one person expressed no opinion. This is central to the legislation we are discussing. Overwhelmingly, the convention said that if the voting age is reduced to 16, it should be reduced for every election and not just for local and European elections. Some 68% of the members present at the Constitutional Convention favoured that and only 28% favoured what we are discussing today, a partial reduction.