Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Cathaoirleach for welcoming my colleague, Councillor Andrew Bolger, my secretarial assistant, Patrick Higgins, and Christopher, Conor and Joe to the Gallery. I also welcome the students who are here. It is very important that they hear about democracy and see democracy in action. I again raise the question of the voting age. As the Leader will know, I have raised on a number of occasions the issue of lowering the voting age to 16. I have a Bill before the House for this purpose. Those in Scotland and Wales are going to the polls in their local elections quite soon and 16-year-olds will have the right to vote. This is a very active campaign in many countries all over the world. The Children's Rights Alliance recently announced that it is pushing even harder to ensure that we see the voting age reduced to 16. We can do it for the local and European election simply by legislation. The Convention on the Constitution considered the matter in detail and was in favour of it. I hope that this will be provided for as part of the legislation on the electoral commission. When the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, came before this House to deal with a Commencement matter, he indicated his support for the proposal. It is important that we have that debate and that we engage as many young people as possible in it.

The other issue I wish to raise relates to the sports capital grants scheme and the concerns now being raised regarding inflation in construction costs. The Government recently announced the largest ever sports capital grants scheme. The Minister of State, Deputy Chambers, did a wonderful job in getting the scheme over the line and in making the announcements but many of the clubs and organisations to get grants are now being hit by inflation in construction costs. The costs of their projects are much higher than the quotes they had received when putting in their original submissions. I ask that the Leader raise this matter with the Minister of State with responsibility for sport and that she ask whether any allowances can be made for clubs impacted in this way.