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

I reiterate that we will oppose this section. I do not want to repeat the reason I gave initially but I will re-emphasise one of them. The whole basis for this discussion, and for the numerous Private Members' Bills in both Houses, is the decision of the Convention on the Constitution with regard to reducing the voting age. The vote of the convention was 52 members in favour, 47 against with one abstention. I believe the flavour of the debate here has not been reflective of the public opinion.I do not share Senator Warfield's pessimism that a referendum on lowering the voting age would necessarily be lost. He spoke about lowering the age at which a citizen can run for President, and other Members also referenced that. A proper campaign could be fought on that issue and people are free to make up their own minds on that question.

I would refer to the results of the vote on the subject of this legislation at the Constitutional Convention, namely, the splitting of voting ages with a different voting age for local elections, European elections and Dáil elections. The results of the vote at the convention were 68 in favour of a common voting age for all elections, 28 in favour of different voting ages for them and five abstentions.

I advise Senator Murnane O'Connor that the referendum that will be held this May is on the eighth amendment. The other amendment is to be held the following May.