Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. I welcome this Bill which will establish a much-needed electoral commission. I also support the lowering of the voting age to 16 and we can do that as part of this legislation for the local and European elections in 2024. The leadership shown by young people, particularly in the Irish Second-Level Students Union, on the leaving certificate and the question of climate change shows that they can have meaningful impact on our civic life. The evidence from other countries, particularly Austria where this voting age has been in place for over 15 years, shows that young people do not tend to vote differently to older people but the fact that they can vote forces political parties to concentrate more on the issues of concern to them. I support such a change. Given that we can implement it by legislative means for the local and European elections in 2024, it would be appropriate to do so in this legislation.

I also agree that voter education provisions are important. Reducing the voting age is not the be-all and end-all. There must be an educational process around our electoral systems and around digital and media literacy so that fake news can be recognised and so on. This is an important aspect of this legislation. Related to that, I suggest that under section 14, which gives the commission the power to establish committees, one specific committee be established to examine the issue of engaging young people in politics and the electoral process. This would involve youth organisations and youth representatives looking at ways in which we can get young people more involved.On another point that is tied into increasing levels of electoral literacy, in the appointment of members of the commission, section 9 sets out a number of areas of expertise. One of the areas that may also be appropriate to consider in that regard is expertise in communication and education. There are clear requirements about knowledge of electoral systems but we should also look at those with an understanding about how to educate and engage people in processes. That would be welcome.

At every election all of us know people who are away, who may have booked holidays far in advance or get caught at a wedding on the far side of the country and are unable to vote. Quite frequently these are people who in all other circumstances would vote. I have serious concerns about proxy voting but we need to look at some way in which we can extend a postal voting system to those who can show they are going to be away from the polling station on the day for legitimate reasons. Some people can do that for work purposes. There would have to be the necessary safeguards whereby a person would go to a Garda station, produce the necessary identification and vote in front of a garda. The ballot would then be protected. We all know the people of whom we speak and we should try to facilitate that category of voter insofar as possible while at the same time guarding against any threat of personation.

Another piece of legislation we are dealing with is the Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022. It will be important that the electoral commission will work closely with the new media commission, particularly as the new media commission will have responsibility for online advertising. There will be a thin line in some cases between what might be classified as political advertising and more general advertising. Colleagues have also referred to the question of reform of the Seanad electoral processes. When I introduced a Bill to enact the seventh amendment a commitment was given that this would be considered as part of this legislation.

In regard to the constituency review reports, section 56 states that each constituency should have three, four or five members. Historically there were six and seven. I sometimes wonder about the idea of not breaching county boundaries partly because of specific towns. For example, both the Cathaoirleach and the Minister of State, Deputy Burke, will know towns such as Athlone which are served effectively by two constituencies. It might make sense to look at a breach there. I know where I am going with this. Other places such as Carlow and Drogheda have significant parts of the towns outside the location. I am aware that some colleagues in the south east had a bit of a row where some of that had been done. I will finish on this point. The obsession with county boundaries, which is driven by the GAA, is somewhat bizarre. County boundaries are not natural designs in Irish history. They started with King John who does not have the best reputation in this country. He drew the county boundaries in Dublin.