A Fine Gael Senator has called for 16-year-olds to be allowed to vote, and did not discount the idea of them serving as TDs in the aftermath of Friday’s double referendum defeat for the government.
Senator Regina Doherty, who is representing Fine Gael in the European elections in June, was speaking on the matter on RTÉ Radio 1’s Today With Claire Byrne this morning, and said that “politically-minded young people” don’t currently feel “listened to” by the “political establishment.”
“I know there’s a rule of thumb amongst some politicians that ‘Oh my God, you couldn’t – young people are impressionable and they could be swept off their feet by one party or the other party,’” she said.
“That doesn’t happen to 18-year-olds, so I think that fear is probably misguided.”
She said that “historically” politicians were “fearful” that an influential party would “sweep in” and gather up “impressionable” 16 or 17-year-old voters.
However, she said: “If that was the case we’d be able to do that with 18 and 19-year-olds, and we know that’s not true.”
She said that children wanted to have their voice “heard” on a variety of issues, including “climate change” and “world peace.”
“The young people who want to be heard, who want to be heard around climate change, around issues of world peace – they will make their voices heard, and we as politicians will have to sit up and listen. That’s why I think it’s a good idea,” she said.
She further hailed the work of the National Youth Council of Ireland (NYCI) – a State-funded NGO in receipt of millions of euros in public money – for its “democracy days”, saying that “these people are incredibly engaged.”
“Far from being influenceable, these people were demanding of us that we listen and that we hear, because they don’t feel heard at the moment.”
Notably, the NYCI – which receives the vast majority of its funding in the form of grants from the Irish State – receives over €2.7 million per year, and claims that all white people have inherent “privilege” by virtue of their skin colour.
“If we are white, we carry white privilege”: An Irish advocacy group in receipt of millions in taxpayer funding has accused all white people of having “privilege,” and links to documents saying that “whiteness” is part of “racist oppression.”#gripthttps://t.co/pjqlle4nZo
— gript (@griptmedia) May 15, 2023
“Why shouldn’t a young person be able to lobby for the things that are important to them,” Doherty asked, saying that young people were entitled to campaign for “greater climate change measures.”
Asked if she was in favour of 16-year-olds running for local councils or the Dáil, she said “I haven’t actually thought that far ahead.”
However, she said that it was “a real problem” that underage teenagers are not heard, saying “I want young people to feel empowered, that when they have an idea, people actually listen to them – people who have serious import in making policy decisions.”
Notably, this plan has also been supported by Sinn Féin, who backed the measure as recently as 2021, calling it an “overdue reform.”