Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I am conscious that I am taking this Commitment matter on Bob Dylan's 80th birthday. The times they are indeed a-changing. From a political perspective, I very much welcome the Senator bringing this issue to the House because it is really important. At the outset, it should be noted that the Programme for Government: Our Shared Future contains a broad range of electoral reforms, including a commitment to establish an independent statutory electoral commission by the end of this year. The programme also contains an explicit commitment to examine the Scottish experience in reducing the voting age in order to draw conclusions.

Against this background, in December 2020, the Government approved the drafting of an electoral reform Bill. The Bill's general scheme has been circulated to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage for pre-legislative scrutiny. The general scheme, which was circulated to the committee on 8 January 2021, addresses a number of Government commitments, including proposals relating to the establishment of an electoral commission. As I have stated previously in the House, one of the electoral commission's initial functions will be to conduct research on electoral policies, procedures and administrative practices, with a view to providing advice to the Oireachtas on request, as my Department may be required to do from time to time. Examining the issues in respect of reducing the voting age is a good example of the type of research that could be carried out by the commission, when it is established, and is something I would very much welcome.

The House may recall that the Convention on the Constitution examined this issue extensively over the course of its debates. Three ballots took place to inform its proposals on this issue. In the first ballot, there was a small majority in favour of the proposal that the voting age should be reduced. In the second ballot, the members were asked to consider whether to reduce the voting age to 17 or to 16 years, with the stronger support for the latter reduction. A third ballot was also held on whether the voting age should be reduced for some types of elections only, for example, local elections. The overwhelming view of the convention did not support a reduction in the voting age for specific types of elections only, with 68% of convention members voting against this proposal and just 28% voting in favour of it. In line with the majority opinion of its members, the convention recommended that a referendum should be held to amend the Constitution to reduce the voting age to 16 years of age for all elections.

Separately, and complementary to this work of the convention, the Citizens' Assembly, in its 2018 report, The Manner in Which Referenda are Held & Fixed Term Parliaments, also recommended, among other things, that the voting age should be lowered to 16 years as a means to increase voter turnout at elections, something we all want to see. While the assembly voted by 80% in favour of a reduction in the voting age, it did not specify the election or elections to which reduced voting age would apply, although it did refer briefly to the deliberations of the Convention on the Constitution on this matter.

The Senator can rest assured that my Department is committed to having this important issue examined. The establishment of an electoral commission is currently a multifaceted project in my Department's key electoral reform priorities. Following its establishment, the electoral commission will be well-placed, if requested, to examine, among other matters, the prospect of reducing the age at which a person should be entitled to vote, having particular regard to the experience in Scotland, as well as in other countries that the Senator has referenced, where a reduction in the voting age has taken place. I again welcome the tabling of this matter.