Rose Conway Walsh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I extend my condolences to the families of Jack Merritt and Saskia Jones, who were both killed in the London Bridge attack. I commend both of these young people, who were champions of the victims of the criminal justice system, for the fantastic work they did during their short lives in the Learning Together programme for victims and the rehabilitation of prisoners. I also commend the bravery of Jack's father, Dave Merritt, when he spoke about hate crime and the work his son and Saskia Jones did. We have a lot to learn from that. I also commend the members of the public who came forward to protect others who could have been the victims of this attack. There is learning for us all in the fact that they were immigrants. I again emphasise the importance of speeding up the hate crime legislation that is in process here.It is taking far too long. There needs to be an urgency around that. The Leader might just give us an update and times on that.

On a better note, I congratulate my colleague, Deputy Mark Ward, who got elected over the weekend and who arrived in Leinster House today, and, indeed, the three other newly-elected Deputies. I thank my party's other candidates, Councillor Thomas Gould, Councillor Ann Graves and Mr. Johnny Mythen for the successes that they have achieved. I commend all the candidates who put their names forward, including my cross-party colleagues in the Seanad who put their names forward for the democratic process.

What we have learned from the results over the weekend is the growing anger out there that despite the growth in the economy, the vast majority of families and workers have less money in their pockets than when Fine Gael, supported by Fianna Fáil, came into government. People told us about the cost of rents, childcare, healthcare and insurance. As for my party's result, it is due to us setting out how we would deal with all these issues and, indeed, how we would plan for Irish unity which is important.

As Senator Boyhan said, we cannot ignore the low turnout in these elections and the need for the electoral commission and for us to look at how we can engage genuinely with young people and facilitate people to vote from 16 years of age. This is crucially important. We need to engage with young people and to facilitate people aged 16 and over to vote and take part in the democratic process. We cannot merely pay lip-service to these issues. We have to work on them. We cannot say we agree with something and then do nothing about it. There is a job of work to be done here. We need to have a discussion in this Chamber on voting rights for young people of 16 years of age and above.