Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for taking this issue, which I know he feels strongly about. In 2013, the constitutional convention recommended that we reduce the voting age to 16. The programme for Government negotiated among our three parties had a very clear commitment around ways in which we can look at enhancing the role of young people in society and how we can support youth participation. One of the specific commitments was that we would look at learning from the Scottish experience where the voting age has been reduced. It was reduced in 2014 for the Scottish independence referendum but we have seen it maintained for local and Scottish parliamentary elections, including the recent elections. It was also extended for the Senedd elections in Wales, which took place earlier this month. The Isle of Man, which was the first territory in the world to extend the right to vote to women in 1881, has allowed those aged 16 to vote since 2006. The case of Austria is often cited. It was introduced there for local elections from 2000 and extended to general and other elections from 2007. Malta has reduced the voting age to 16 and the age is the same in Estonia and a number of German Länder. The voting age in Greece is 17. The Belgian Government has now said that it is going to extend the right to vote to 16 and 17-year-olds for its local and European elections from 2024. The European Parliament and the Council of Europe have recommended that we look at voting at 16.

Over the course of the pandemic, we have seen the contribution young people have made to Irish society in so many ways. In particular, I am thinking of the role of the Irish Second–Level Students' Union but it also relates to so many other young people. We had a very good debate in this House last week about the role that young people have played.

It is not the silver bullet. Other things need to happen as well. We need a very strong programme of political education right through our education system and beyond. We need to look at ways in which we can resource Comhairle na nÓg, youth organisations and volunteers who are engaging with young people, but we must be serious about looking at ways of allowing young people to participate in that most important right, which is the right to vote.

There are fears that if we extend the right to vote to those aged 16 and 17, they will vote in a particular direction and for all sorts of crazy candidates. The evidence is that this is not the case. The evidence from Austria, where it has been in place for over a decade and a half, is that the younger generations tend to follow the broad patterns of other generations except that the issues are different. There is often a lot more focus on issues that are of direct concern to young people and the political system and political parties adapt in due course.

I have a Bill before this House calling for the change to be introduced for the local and European elections in 2024. It provides enough time for a lead in to deal with all of the issues and engage in that programme of political education. The Government is committed to the introduction of a much-needed electoral commission, which is being championed by the Minister of State, but as part of that, I would love to hear him give a commitment in this House that we would move towards a situation where those aged 16 and 17 would have the right to vote in the local and European elections in 2024 because it only requires legislative change.

Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I am conscious that I am taking this Commitment matter on Bob Dylan's 80th birthday. The times they are indeed a-changing. From a political perspective, I very much welcome the Senator bringing this issue to the House because it is really important. At the outset, it should be noted that the Programme for Government: Our Shared Future contains a broad range of electoral reforms, including a commitment to establish an independent statutory electoral commission by the end of this year. The programme also contains an explicit commitment to examine the Scottish experience in reducing the voting age in order to draw conclusions.

Against this background, in December 2020, the Government approved the drafting of an electoral reform Bill. The Bill's general scheme has been circulated to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage for pre-legislative scrutiny. The general scheme, which was circulated to the committee on 8 January 2021, addresses a number of Government commitments, including proposals relating to the establishment of an electoral commission. As I have stated previously in the House, one of the electoral commission's initial functions will be to conduct research on electoral policies, procedures and administrative practices, with a view to providing advice to the Oireachtas on request, as my Department may be required to do from time to time. Examining the issues in respect of reducing the voting age is a good example of the type of research that could be carried out by the commission, when it is established, and is something I would very much welcome.

The House may recall that the Convention on the Constitution examined this issue extensively over the course of its debates. Three ballots took place to inform its proposals on this issue. In the first ballot, there was a small majority in favour of the proposal that the voting age should be reduced. In the second ballot, the members were asked to consider whether to reduce the voting age to 17 or to 16 years, with the stronger support for the latter reduction. A third ballot was also held on whether the voting age should be reduced for some types of elections only, for example, local elections. The overwhelming view of the convention did not support a reduction in the voting age for specific types of elections only, with 68% of convention members voting against this proposal and just 28% voting in favour of it. In line with the majority opinion of its members, the convention recommended that a referendum should be held to amend the Constitution to reduce the voting age to 16 years of age for all elections.

Separately, and complementary to this work of the convention, the Citizens' Assembly, in its 2018 report, The Manner in Which Referenda are Held & Fixed Term Parliaments, also recommended, among other things, that the voting age should be lowered to 16 years as a means to increase voter turnout at elections, something we all want to see. While the assembly voted by 80% in favour of a reduction in the voting age, it did not specify the election or elections to which reduced voting age would apply, although it did refer briefly to the deliberations of the Convention on the Constitution on this matter.

The Senator can rest assured that my Department is committed to having this important issue examined. The establishment of an electoral commission is currently a multifaceted project in my Department's key electoral reform priorities. Following its establishment, the electoral commission will be well-placed, if requested, to examine, among other matters, the prospect of reducing the age at which a person should be entitled to vote, having particular regard to the experience in Scotland, as well as in other countries that the Senator has referenced, where a reduction in the voting age has taken place. I again welcome the tabling of this matter.

Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I would certainly favour the extension of voting at 16 to all elections but, as the Minister of State is aware, that will require a constitutional amendment whereas the scope is there, on a legislative basis, to change it in time for the local and European elections. The evidence again suggests that, along with political education, if we encourage young people at 16 and 17 to vote, they become habitual voters and they do engage.

The Minister of State referred to Bob Dylan and to his song, "The Times They Are A-Changin'". He will be aware, of course, that one of the verses opens with the line, "Come senators, congressmen, please heed the call". I ask that the Minister of State heed the call of young people and of an increasing number of people in this House and the Lower House to the effect that we look at allowing those aged 16 and 17 to vote. The time is there to allow us to plan for it properly for the local and European elections in 2024. I welcome the Minister of State's commitment but I would love to hear him say that he envisages those aged 16 and 17 going to the ballot box in 2024.

Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

To finish that quote, Bob Dylan said, "Don’t stand in the doorway, don't block up the hall", so he was probably referring to giving an opportunity to everyone to take part in our political system. I am conscious the Senator rightly highlighted the role of young people in recent years, particularly as the climate Bill is now being brought forward. It was the climate strikes, it was the Fridays For Future, it was those young people who brought about this transformational change and demanded change from us, as politicians. It is only right that we give due regard to that.

I met with the Irish Second-Level Students Union and I gave a commitment to its representatives that we would examine the matter, given that it is only a legislative requirement, as we move towards the 2024 local elections. We are also committing to a citizens' assembly on biodiversity, at which, hopefully, Comhairle na n-Óg will have a specific role in the context of a youth assembly on that. Young people are becoming front and centre and, as in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, they should be consulted and should be part of the process. It is vital that we give due consideration to that.

I welcome that this issue had been brought forward. I give my full commitment that we will explore every avenue to try to make it happen.