Vote at 16 Conference: February 9th 2012
Young people from around Ireland attended NYCI's Vote@16 youth conference on February 11th, 2012 - focusing on democracy and how young Irish people can become active citizens.
Keynote Address:
Simon Harris T.D.
Panel:
Professor David Farrell – School of Politics and International Relations, UCD
Niamh Gallagher – Women for Election
Leanne Caulfield – President, ISSU
Ruairi McKiernan – Formerly of Spunout, Member of the Council of State
About the event:
The conference Vote@16 - Young People Young Voters – Supporting Active Citizenship is part of an EU ‘structured dialogue’ (formal conversation) process which brings together decision makers and young people throughout Europe to explore reducing the voting age for young people to 16 years.
An EU sponsored structured dialogue at the event explored what actions could increase youth participation at local, national and European elections. It also addressed the issue of reducing the voting age for young people from 18 to 16 years.
This event will feed the viewpoint of Irish young people, youth workers and those who work with young people into the structured process on critical aspects relating to youth participation in institutional democracy (especially in elections) and youth participation in youth organisations.
A report of the conference and survey findings will be compiled and disseminated within Ireland and across Europe.
This one day event is part of a longer term campaign and more information on future activities will be made available at the event.
Presentation to the Oireactas Sub-committee on the Constitution
The National Youth Council of Ireland’s Vote at 16 campaign group met with the Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Constitution on January 13th 2010 to urge the Government to reduce the voting age.
NYCI at the Oireachtas 3 from Nyci Advocacy on Vimeo.
In the revised Programme for Government last year a commitment was made for an Independent Electoral Commission to look at extending the franchise of voting to young people of 16 & 17 in local elections.
What we want
We want the law changed so that 16 and 17-year-olds can vote in the Local and European Parliament elections.
The age at which an individual can vote should be reduced from 18 to 16 years of age in local and European Parliament elections. Given the decline in voter participation, we believe the best way to address this problem is to implement a series of measures to facilitate a greater voter turn out, particularly among young people.
A New Age in Voting
Change the law so that young people aged 16 and 17 years can vote!
NYCI believes that young people should have a greater say in decisions and actions that affect them and their community.
Due to this belief we are campaigning to Government so the voting age is reduced to 16 for local, national and European elections. Click here for 7 reasons on why age should be reduced.
