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

To deal with what other Senators said in their contributions, I have spoken about what the Acting Chairman said. There are similar pieces of legislation in the Dáil on extending voting rights. I disagree with Senator Gavin in the sense that while his point about this being a simple piece of legislation is absolutely right, it is very fundamental because we are speaking about changing the register of electors on which every campaign and election is based. The last time this area was broached was in terms of electronic voting, and whatever we might think about the electoral process at times, the general public guards jealously the integrity of the process. I am not saying that increasing the register would necessarily compromise that integrity, but it would be a significant change and it is incorrect to describe it as modest or small.

Senator Boyhan said I should be aware of what is happening in Young Fine Gael. It is a long time since I was directly aware, I have to say.

Senator Black stated she was in favour of the Bill, but I want to point out again the Constitutional Convention, to which numerous Senators including Senator Black referred, specifically in its vote went against this proposal. Its point overwhelmingly was there should be a reduction across the board rather than just for European and local elections. There is an issue with regard to whether 16 should be the age. In principle I favour, as does the Government, the reduction of the voting age, but all of these numbers are arbitrary in a sense. Where did 18 come from originally? Why is it used for so many things now? What special status does somebody who is 18 have, that somebody who is 17 years and 364 days does not have? Lawmakers and legislators make decisions to draw a particular line, and 18, 16 or 17 are the ages at which certain coming of age events happen, such as getting a driver's licence and being able to have a drink, vote or enter a committed legally-based relationship.

Senator Boyhan asked whether this had disappeared within Fine Gael or the Government, but it has not. The Taoiseach took office last summer, and in September the Government decision was this should be listed as one of the referendums to be held. As I have said, a number of other equally serious topics are to go to a referendum.

Senator Ruane gave one of the best speeches I have ever heard. I disagree with her on virtually everything in terms of her economic outlook, but with regard to her reasoning as to why young people should be involved in politics, I hope some people are watching what is going on in the Seanad and have seen what she said, because the decisions made here and at local authority level, mostly at local level, have such an impact on the lives of young people as well as those of older people.

I am not sure whether Senator Marie-Louise O'Donnell is sometimes provocative. The point she was trying to make, perhaps, was that young people should not necessarily devote all of their time to party politics, but politics is a very different thing and she gave as fine a description of this as anybody could on ensuring the views of younger people are represented.

Senator Kelleher spoke about taxation without representation. Alas, it exists. Even for a right-winger, Fine Gaeler like me, I have long been a supporter of a points system for citizenship. Thousands of people in this country pay a lot of tax and do not have a vote because residency does not entitle people to a Dáil vote. They might have a vote in a local or European election if they are from the EU. The principle of taxation without representation exists, but I accept the other points she made. She spoke about zero-hour contracts and the jobs younger people do. There is legislation on changing the rules and outlawing zero-hour contracts, which is to be greatly welcomed.

Senator Grace O'Sullivan spoke about her family involvement in politics at 15 and 16. Other Senators have also spoken. The position is the Government has made a decision this referendum should be held in 2019. The reason we feel we cannot support this legislation is if 16 and 17 year olds have a vote in the next local and European elections in 2019 and the general public comes out and votes against it in a referendum on the same day, while it would not necessarily be open to legal challenge, because the Oireachtas has the power to legislate on the voting age in terms of European and local elections, it would just be wrong to have a situation where people who are 16 and 17 have a vote that day but the general public might say something quite different in a referendum. This is the position the Government is taking. I do not think it is kicking it down the road. I think it is a logical position for the Government to take.