Rose Conway-Walsh urged lowering the voting age to 16 and asked the minister to withdraw an amendment that would delay the change. She argued the decision is a political one that must be taken now to enfranchise young people and combat low youth turnout.
Background on the amendment
She recalled the electoral amendment voting bill 2016 was restored to the paper in the Sianud and noted it was seconded in 2021. She told the minister that the issue has been on the agenda for too long and warned against letting the permanent government block progress.
Arguments for enfranchising 16-year-olds
She argued that 16-year-olds know the difference between right and wrong and recounted her own interest in politics as a teenager. She said the change is only two years - from 18 to 16 - and insisted there is no reason to delay a political decision to extend the vote to younger people.
Registration and youth turnout
She highlighted practical barriers to youth participation, saying many students leave for college without being registered and that contributes to low turnout. She used the example of her own sons to illustrate how registration before leaving home matters for the youth vote.
Consistency across the island
She noted that an Assembly recently lowered the voting age to 16 while other parts of the island still bar 16-year-olds from voting. She urged confidence in young people and in Irish citizens in the north and the diaspora to take part in democratic decisions.
Youth participation in decision-making and education
She called for government-funded and EU-funded groups, including LEADER, to be required to have youth boards so young people can influence decisions that affect them. She also supported an education programme to accompany the change and dismissed fears that teachers would improperly influence students, noting curriculum topics such as climate, transport, health and housing are already discussed by young people.
Appeal to the minister and campaign recognition
She respectfully asked the minister to take the amendment off the table and commended youth groups who have campaigned for years. She argued the chamber should act now to lower the voting age to 16 and not defer a clear political choice.
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And to everybody in the gallery, I'm delighted to see you here today and thank you to the SOC Dems for bringing this motion forward. Now, you'll remember the electoral amendment voting bill 2016, obviously. We restored that to the paper in the Sianud, which was seconded by Lynne Rouen in 2021. Minister, we're a long time at this and we're too long at it. And I think you know yourself even from your own contribution that we're too long at it. And I really would ask you, don't let the permanent government get in the way of this. This is a political thing that needs to be done. And that, as well said, we can do here ourselves and we need to do. We can say on one hand we're listening to youth groups and we're listening to young people and at the same time say, no, but you can't have what you're asking for here. It is vitally important that we do this. At the age of 16, you know the difference between right and wrong. In fact, there's many people who are 86 who don't know the difference between right and wrong. So we see how things have evolved over the years. I know myself, even at 16, while I might not have been party political, I was certainly very interested in what was happening on our island. And I was very, I suppose, even shocked and abhorred by the fact that so much was happening in the north. And it was always of interest to me going back for a child, as a child. I could never make sense of the fact that a tiny island like ours was divided, was divided. And that part of our island was owned by another island. Now that still doesn't make sense to me today, but it didn't make sense to me when I was 15 either, or even less than that. So I think we do a disservice by not allowing, by not lowering the age. The other thing I want to say to you, Minister, so I would ask you to take the amendment off the table. I really would respectfully ask you to do that. We are talking here about 24 months, you know, two years, 16 to 18. That's all we're talking about. I want to commend all the youth groups in the campaign that has been led in this for years and years. In fact, some of the people who are involved in the campaign now have children themselves. We don't want to let this continue on. I want to say as well as somebody, as a TD who comes from Mayo, you see what happens is when, like my own two sons, go to college and all that. And if they're not registered to vote before they leave home, then where do they register? They're four, maybe six years at college, you know. So it is not right either. I think that all fills in to the low turnout of young people voting. Now, we cannot as well have the two parts of the island, people lowering the age of 16, which are absolutely welcome. That happened recently in the Assembly to lower the age to 16. And then you have just down the road, the 16-year-olds can't have a vote at all. We absolutely have to correct that. I've all long believed as well that a lot of the government-funded groups and the EU-funded groups, like LEADER and other groups, should be absolutely obligated to have youth boards in the decision-making. Young people need to be involved in the decisions that are being made that impact them most. And I would ask, like, what are the government afraid of? You know, and I don't say that cynically, but, like, no more than giving the vote to Irish citizens in the north or the diaspora, you know, it's time to be confident about this, to be confident in the ability of young people, to be confident in the ability and insight of Irish citizens everywhere, and particularly on the rest of our island. Now, obviously, there has to be an education programme with it as well, but I think I wouldn't be concerned at all about teachers, you know, the arguments that teachers are going to influence young people how to vote. Have you ever tried to convince a 16-year-old to do something that they didn't want to do? Well, good luck with that, you know. People are well able to make up their own minds, but it would bring onto the curriculum the things that need to be discussed, things that are being discussed anyway around education. Around climate, around transport, around health, around housing. Young people are discussing these things in their own group. They just need to be able to have a say in voting. So I would absolutely, I think it would be a shame on all of our houses if we go beyond this to not progress with this legislation, to lower the voting age to 16. There are so many reasons why we have to do the right thing here, Minister. Thank you very much, Deputy Conor and Walsh, going to call.
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