About the campaign

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 and European elections. Click here for 7 reasons on why age should be reduced.

There has been some debate about the lack of interest in politics and the participation in democracy amongst young people in Ireland. We do not agree. From our work we know that the vast majority of young people are interested in local, national and global issues. The key reason why so many do not engage is because they are disillusioned with politicians and political parties who ignore them and their issues. In addition many young people don’t vote as the Irish voter registration system is very outdated and many are not registered in time to vote.  

As a first step we are proposing that this should be possible for the Local and European Elections which are taking place in June 2009. The Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, John Gormley T.D. can do this by changing the law in advance of the elections. Click here to send an e-mail to Minister.

NYCI believes that the momentum for this campaign is growing as more people support the idea and campaign. We have contacted all the parties and national politicians asking them to support our campaign. A number have done so already click here. We are hoping more will do so in the coming months and would encourage you to ask your local politicians to support our campaign.

We are not claiming that reducing the voting age alone will increase voter turnout among young people or address young peoples’ alienation from the political system. However, it would be a positive and progressive step in the right direction and send a strong signal to young people that the political system welcomes a new age in voting.