Recommendation to reduce voting age does not go far enough
July 22nd 2010
The National Youth Council of Ireland’s welcomes the report from the Committee on the Constitution entitled ‘Fourth Report - Article 16: Review of the Electoral System for the Election of Members to Dáil Éireann’ released earlier today as a step in the right direction by advising Government to reduce the voting age. In addition the recommendation of an awareness programme to encourage young voters will serve to provide a valuable resource for young people.
“In January this year the Vote at 16 campaign presented to the Committee on the Constitution to reduce the voting age to 16. The recommendation of reducing the voting age to 17 rather than 16 is half hearted and does not go far enough to reform the system. Imagination and ambition are required now to shake up an antiquated system that needs to engage young people,” stated James Doorley, Assistant Director at the National Youth Council of Ireland.
In addition we dispute the claim by the Committee that reducing the voting age for local elections would cause legal problems with drafting according to due to Article 28A.4* of the Constitution. “We believe that the legal advice received on section 28A.4 of the Constitution is flawed as it suggests that the right to vote in a local election is directly linked to the right to vote in a Dáil election. However, there many voters at present such as EU citizens not from Ireland or the UK and non-EU citizens, who can vote in local elections who are not eligible to vote in Dáil elections. Therefore we believe the Oireachtas can equally extend the right to vote in local elections to young people aged 16 and 17 without any constitutional issues,” Mr. Doorley concluded.
In addition for a number of years we have proposed weekend voting and elections being held over more than one day and we are pleased that this measure is recommended in the report. 57% of young people indicated that this step would increase voter participation in research we released last year entitled ‘The Truth About Youth’+.
ENDS
For further information, please contact Clodagh O’Brien, Communications Officer at the NYCI on 087 781 4903 or 01 425 5955 or email communications@nyci.ie
Notes to Editors:
*Every citizen who has the right to vote at an election for members of Dáil Eireann and such other persons as may be determined by law shall have the right to vote at an election for members of such of the local authorities referred to in Section 2 of this Article shall be determined by law.
+http://www.youth.ie/publications/research_and_policy_reports/the_truth_about_youth
National Youth Council of Ireland
The National Youth Council of Ireland is a membership-led umbrella organisation that represents and supports the interests of 55 voluntary youth organisations and uses its collective experience to act on issues that impact on young people.