Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta Farrelly for tabling this. I am in full support of it. One of the main reasons is taxation without representation. If we are not going to give young people the chance to vote, are we going to make them exempt from taxes at the age of 15, 16 or 17? When I started work, I was on €6.06 an hour at the age of 15, but I was not able to vote until the age of 21. The thing I am trying to say is that the way the general election falls can make a huge difference here. When I knock on doors in north Dublin, I meet young people who have just turned 18 and therefore missed out on voting in last year's general election. Their voices will not be heard until they are 22 or 23. We need to bring down the voting age for exactly that reason. I have heard Members across the House talking about the progressive ideas of young people. That is something we need to encourage in politics, because young people will bring fresh ideas, fresh perspective and lived experience. My generation and the generation below me are the ones who are going to be going through this housing crisis and are dealing with the health crisis. As other Deputies have said, young people can be carers. They can go into the Army, but we are not allowing them a voice in democracy. It makes no sense. I will not go into repeating everyone else who talked about Brazil, Scotland and Austria. Studies show that it has been done. On the matter of 24 months and maturity, young people under the age of 18 can consent to medical surgery, but they cannot give a vote in democracy. That is a bit hypocritical. I thank the Members. I am aware that I only had two minutes. There is much more I wanted to say. On another thing I have heard about referendums, I urge the Government to look at how the Geneva system works with referendums. A huge issue we have in this Government is the cost of referendums. If we could speed up and copy the Swiss system, we could really listen to our citizens and to what changes we want as a society, in a more economically viable way.

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