Fintan Warfield (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the announcement yesterday by the National Youth Council of Ireland, NYCI, that based on preliminary figures, 125,000 young people have been added to the supplementary electoral register ahead of this week's referendum. This highlights that young people have a deep affinity with the issue of abortion and that they will respond and vote in droves when engaged. They are major stakeholders in our political system.

The marriage equality referendum, the third anniversary of which is today, proved that young people, when engaged, will be at the forefront and cutting edge of change. I commend the efforts of the NYCI, the Union of Students in Ireland, individual students' unions and youth groups who tirelessly reach out to young people and fill a void on the part of the State and its institutions, which largely shirk their responsibilities when engaging with young people and new voters.The last data collated on youth turnout was compiled in the 2011 election by the CSO. In that election 62% of young people aged between 18 and 25 voted and the overall turnout was 69%. I expect it would have been higher if it were not for emigration in 2011. When asked by Deputy Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire in July last year whether the Government would consider collating turnout data by age, the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, stated the Government had no immediate plans to do so. There seems to be no political will to collate such important data. The Department does not seem to want to place that responsibility on any other public body either. Without sufficient data on age, a behavioural analysis of youth turnout cannot be carried out. We also cannot encourage it. Following the referendum, I will call on the Minister of State with responsibility for electoral reform to the House to discuss options for enhancing youth voting and to ask why such obvious measures have yet to be put in place.