Katherine Zappone (Independent)
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I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch. I appreciate the opportunity to have an exchange with her. However, with respect, I also draw your attention, a Chathaoirligh, to the fact that this is my third Commencement matter since the year began and I have not yet been able to get the relevant Minister or even the relevant Minister of State to respond to the matters I have raised. I am aware of the organisational difficulties involved and that the relevant Ministers are currently in the Dáil. In registering my disappointment I wish to say that I would be willing to wait for the matter to be dealt with until the next opportunity.

That said, I will now address the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch. I am aware that she is committed to encouraging civic engagement, which is essential to achieving functioning democracy. I have asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government to outline his Department's strategy to mobilise those not currently on the register of electors to get on the supplementary register to be able to vote in the forthcoming referenda. I am aware that the date has not been officially set by An Taoiseach, although he has indicated 22 May could be the polling date. The Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government cannot sign the polling day order until the relevant legislation has been passed by the Oireachtas, and that citizens will have until 15 days before the polling day, excluding Sundays and public holidays to register to vote in the referendum. I wish to highlight the importance of an effective information campaign by the Government to advise citizens who are not on the register of electors on how to get on the supplementary register during the short period that this option is still available.

If the referenda do take place on 22 May, the cut-off date is less than two months away. The reason I raise the matter now is because I wish to instil a sense of urgency in the Government as well as to request some innovative thinking in terms of how the information campaign can be conducted. Getting people on the voting register can be at least as critical if not more so than anything else we do in terms of the campaign on either side of the equation. The youth vote is especially critical for democracy to thrive and for the Constitution to evolve in harmony with society. To achieve that, we need to hear from the young about what kind of Ireland they want to live in. I am sure the Minister of State is aware that 30% of those aged 18 to 25 were not registered to vote in the European and local elections held in May 2014. That is 4% higher than five years earlier. A political disconnect is especially evident among 18 to 21 year olds given that 43% of the age group is not registered to vote. That percentage has increased from 36% in 2009. Eight out of ten young people did not vote in the previous referendum.

I hope to hear that the Government is going to do all it can, especially to ensure young people are aware of what they need to do to secure a vote. The marriage equality referendum and the referendum on the minimum age requirement for one to stand for the Presidency should be seen as an opportunity to engage with young citizens. We could also be inspired by the engagement with democracy in Scotland last year where a record number of people registered to vote in the Scottish independence referendum. In Scotland a total of 97% of the adult population registered to vote.

The Union of Students in Ireland, USI, student unions and civil society organisation are working tirelessly to mobilise people to vote. They are now moving to get people on the supplementary register. However, the Government must provide leadership on the issue and perhaps some financial support as the resources of those organisations are limited. I would like to hear from the Government about new strategies to encourage young people in particular to partake in this democratic process.

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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I fully understand the Senator's frustration at not being able to get the relevant Minister. She can take it from me as someone who always comes into the Seanad when I am asked to do so that I would appreciate it as well if the other Ministers came in and took their own slot. It would be a little less work for me as, God knows, I have enough to do.

I am not certain that I will read out the official reply even though Senator Zappone is welcome to take a copy of it. It is virtually the same information as that outlined in her contribution.

It strikes me that the Scottish experience was about something about which everyone in Scotland had an opinion. I am not certain that everyone in Ireland has an opinion on the type of referenda we have had or will have in the future. I expect the campaign to be very polarised. I do not think everyone will be fully in agreement with the proposal and therefore I am not certain we will ever achieve the type of participation witnessed in Scotland on the fundamental future of the country. If we had a referendum of that nature in this country, one would see as great a participation rate.

Young people are very busy. Depending on the time of the year they often have exams or they are going on holidays or abroad to work for the summer. It is therefore very difficult to engage them because of how busy they are. We do not often see them in that light but they are very busy people. One would imagine from the public expressions of engagement in recent months that there is significant engagement by young people with politics, but I am not certain that it is the type of engagement Senator Zappone and I would like in terms of voting and registering to vote. What we see on the streets is a different type of engagement. I am not certain whether the constitutional provisions relating to voting are embedded in that type of engagement. I do not say whether it is right or wrong but it is not an indicator of people's engagement in politics.

I will bring Senator Zappone's remarks to the attention of the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government when I see him this afternoon. Senator Zappone is correct; we must be far more imaginative. We must persuade people that this is their democracy, their Republic and that it is their responsibility for themselves, not necessarily as we used to think for one's neighbour or for the good of the rest of the humanity. We must persuade young people that voting is an issue that relates to their personal freedom and their rights, responsibilities and benefits within the democratic process.

I am sure there are people who are sufficiently talented to put an information process in place that would do all of that, but it is incumbent on those of us who will go from door to door to find out whether people are registered and, if they are not, to encourage them to do so. It is significant that we are talking about three working weeks, if one takes out Saturdays and Sundays from the 15-day period, in which people can get on the supplementary register. It is a significant period which will be frenetic and in which there will be much talk about the upcoming referenda. It is up to people to use their ability to find a process agreeable to everyone and it should be possible for us to do that.

Katherine Zappone (Independent)
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I thank the Minister of State. I respect her views on the matter.I am happy that the Minister of State is willing to communicate my concerns to the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government.

It appears, from what the Minister of State has said, that the Department will do the usual thing - namely, advertise in the national newspapers - with the local authorities being ultimately responsible. I am raising this issue now in order to encourage the Government to be a little bit more imaginative in this regard. The Minister of State understands the importance of getting people to register to vote and, while the forthcoming referendum here may not be as important as the recent referendum in Scotland, I referred to the Scottish example because the Scots used some imaginative methods to encourage people to register.

Finally, we should look to organisations such as the Union of Students in Ireland, USI, in the context of encouraging young people to vote. That organisation managed to register 20,000 young people in the past. It is aiming to register a further 10,000 students and is engaged in a number of innovative activities to that end. The USI and other civil society organisations would be very grateful if the Government would provide a small grant or fund to support their work in this regard, although they are doing the work anyhow. They have found that www.checktheregister.ieneeds to be updated and monitored, because there are inconsistencies in the information contained therein. They also note that city and county councils are giving different types-----

Paddy Burke (Fine Gael)
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I must ask the Senator to ask a question.

Katherine Zappone (Independent)
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-----of information to people. I thank the Cathaoirleach for bearing with me while I point out that some civil society organisations have found that the registration process is pretty confusing. It seems the Government does not have a sense of urgency about this issue and is not going to use innovative measures. I ask that the Government listen to my requests and support those who are being innovative in this area.

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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I did not intend to give the impression to the Senator that nothing is going to happen. What happened in Scotland was that people registered to vote because they had an interest in the issue. I do not think much effort was required to get people to register because the issue was of such significance. That is the message that we need to convey. The issue is important and if we get people attached, hooked on and interested enough in the issue, they will register to vote - take my word for it. People will vote because of a particular issue rather than out of a sense of civic responsibility. They will vote because there are not enough schools in their area or because the roads are bad. That is how we interact and do things. It is about getting people interested in the issue, and we must be more imaginative in that regard than we have been in the past. I can see the old television advertisement in my mind's eye, with the ballot paper going into the ballot box, the X on the ballot paper and so forth. We must be more imaginative than that, because the rest of the world is far more imaginative and creative now. We must be more imaginative, but it is not as though we do not have the talent to do so. We are experts in that regard and are more engaged with Facebook, Twitter and so forth than many people in other countries.

I also take the Senator's point about the USI, which is a great organisation.