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

Again, to give that reassurance, making that political commitment is important. It is critically important we do that here, in the Dáil and in the select committee. I am giving that commitment to the Senator and to the organisations that have campaigned on this so well over recent years that it is going to happen within the lifetime of this Government

Separately, if we are prescriptive about this in the legislation, we will limit the commission in some ways on certain pieces of research. There is a broader issue here. As we have seen throughout this process, through a great deal of input from civil society and through Members of the Oireachtas, we are tasking the commission to do quite an amount of work in terms of both research and reviews. As a Government, we are prioritising a certain amount of them to start because they are time bound in terms of the reduction in the voting age and in respect of this item regarding the issue of political purposes, and we want to resolve it. I am giving the assurance it will happen as soon as the commission is established. One of its earliest tasks will be to address this issue in the context of a broader review of the 1997 Act.