Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

There is a little bit of déjà vuon this issue because the Minister of State and I discussed it in the Chamber in detail on several occasions, most famously during the Commencement debate in May 2021. It is the case that what is proposed here is quite reasonable. I am minded, on the basis of the commitment I received from the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, that this will be a priority of the new electoral commission and put on the record of the House. I am quite happy that the Government is committed to addressing the question of votes for 16- and 17-year-olds and that it will be an immediate priority for the new electoral commission when established.

The first time I wrote a newspaper article on this issue was in 2007. Even at that stage, several countries had reduced the voting age to facilitate those aged 16 and 17. The Isle of Man was the first to universally do it, in 2006. That is significant because the Isle of Man was also the first territory in the world to grant women the right to vote, back in 1881. However, other countries and territories have also taken action. Brazil reduced the voting age in the late 1980s. Austria reduced it in 2000 for local elections and then extended it more widely for general and other elections in 2007. Malta, Estonia and quite a number of the German Länder reduced the voting age to 16. Belgium is to reduce the age to 16 for its local and European elections from 2024. As Senator Ó Donnghaile has said, we know that Scotland and Wales have successfully reduced the voting age to 16. The Convention on the Constitution considered the issues in detail in 2013. We all acknowledge how much of a success the convention has been. It often deals with very tricky issues. It recommended that we consider reducing the voting age to 16.

A fear among some political colleagues is that young people are not mature enough and do not have a sufficient understanding of political issues to be able to take part in the ballot process. It is not just about this issue in isolation; it has to be combined with political and civic education in our school system. The civic, social and political education programme and the politics and society programme should be compulsory right through second level. People should understand our democracy right from an early age. As Senator Ó Donnghaile has rightly said, with regard to quite a number of the issues, including climate change and biodiversity, it has been young people who have been leading the charge. The most informed and engaged contribution on the questions of the leaving certificate during the period of Covid came from the Irish Second-Level Students Union, which had a very clear vision as to what it wanted to change and, dare I say, even took a more mature and rational approach than some of the other partners in education on the issue. Therefore, a combination of factors needs to come into play.

There are colleagues who sometimes say that if 16- and 17-year-olds are given the vote, they will go off and vote for all sorts of fringe parties, crazies and so on. That is not the case. Quite a bit of research has been done in the University of Copenhagen and Austria that indicates that the voting base of younger voters does not differ enormously from that of older age groups but frequently focuses the attention of political parties on the issues directly of concern to young people. If young people examined in detail some of the approaches to climate change, climate policy and biodiversity of some of the political parties, they would be very surprised. Members of Government parties should be very proud of the action they have taken on climate change and biodiversity. We have not appealed to populists in this regard.

As Senator Ó Donnghaile mentioned, I pay tribute to my colleague, Senator Warfield, whom I know has been working very hard on the issue. We tic-tac regularly on this. He has a Bill and I have a Fianna Fáil Bill to provide for the introduction of the voting age for 16- and 17-year-olds. I chose not to put forward an amendment to this legislation on the basis that I would get a commitment on the floor of the Seanad that one of the first priorities given to the new electoral commission would be to examine this issue and on the basis that we would meet the commitment in the programme for Government to consider learning from the Scottish experience. We should go further than that in that many other EU member states and countries, such as Brazil and Argentina, have reduced the voting age. It needs to be said that participation in the democratic and electoral process is not just about putting marks on a piece of paper. It is a question of how we can involve young people to a far greater extent in our electoral process.

I am happy on the basis of the commitment that I understand the Minister of State will give on this. However, this has been a long time coming. I pay tribute to the young people who have battled for this. Representatives of Comhairle na nÓg from Wexford were in with me yesterday talking about this. Comhairle na nÓg has been raising this issue all over the country. The National Youth Council of Ireland has been raising this, as has the Children's Rights Alliance. The campaigning of all these bodies on this issue needs to be acknowledged. The time is very clearly now, and I am very happy that the Government is going to give the commitment to proceed on this.