Martin calls for lower voting age for EU and Locals

Cllr Keith Martin has welcomed the campaign "Vote at 16 – A New Age in Voting" by the National Youth Council of Ireland which calls for the voting age for local and European elections to be lowered to 16.

According to Cllr Martin "There are many issues affecting young people that need to be articulated. Who better to do so than young voters of 16 and 17?

"Now is the time to lower the age as 16 and 17 year-olds have a great deal of experience with the democratic process. The teenagers of this generation have far more knowledge of politics through programmes in secondary school and access to information via the internet. They are increasingly engaged in political and charity campaigns and they are heavily impacted on by decisions made at local and European level particularly in the area of education."

Cllr Martin says changing the voting age for local and European elections is simple as while the voting age of 18 for Dáil and Presidential elections in Ireland is provided for under the Constitution, there is no such restriction as far as local and European elections are concerned.

Already a number of countries have reduced the voting age to 17 such as East Timor and Indonesia. Others such as Brazil, Cuba, Nicaragua, the Isle of Man and the Netherlands have reduced the voting age to 16.

Cllr Martin says "There are many compelling reasons why we should lower the vote for example we now have an extremely well educated youth who are an economic power in their own right and people are maturing much earlier now than they were 50 years ago. Most young people are now in full time education at the age of 16 whereas most had left school at the age of 16 fifty years ago.

"Young people are constantly voting and enjoy voting in reality TV programmes, such as Big Brother, the X Factor and You're a Star.  However, they are unable to vote on the real issues that effect their lives.

"Local authorities make decisions on areas such as planning and zoning that will have a major impact on where these young people will live and work in the not-too-distant future, and their views and perspectives should be fully reflected by their democratically elected representatives.

"At a time when the lives of young people are being severely impacted by cutbacks in education, reductions in children's allowance and increases in college 'registration fees' - they deserve to have their voices heard."

"As somebody who became involved in politics long before he was eligible to vote I believe that we should be doing everything possible to make sure that young people become engaged in the democratic process and in civic life. Dropping the voting age would certainly be a step in the right direction in that regard."

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