Last Thursday, I was delighted to move the Bill to reduce the voting age to 16 to the second stage. Formally known as the Forty-first Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2025, I believe it would be the most significant piece of electoral reform in recent history. The Bill proposes to allow the people of Ireland to have their say – by referendum – as to whether 16- and 17-year-olds can vote in future elections. Before I was a TD, before I was even a member of the Social Democrats, I was a youth worker. It was a role I adored. The young people I worked with were amazing and inspiring and left me with an unshakeable belief that the world is a better place when we listen to young people – and when they feel heard.
It says a lot that nothing I have done as a politician has prompted such a widespread outpouring of messages from people of all over the country as when I announced my intention to introduce this Bill. And the groundswell of support has only grown since.
In July, the UK Government confirmed its intention to legislate for the reduction of the voting age to 16 in time for the next general election. This means that approximately 48,000 young people in Northern Ireland will be entitled to vote in that election. As it stands now, their counterparts south of the border will not be afforded that opportunity.
Some 14 other countries, like Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Estonia, Germany, Scotland, Switzerland and Wales, have extended voting rights to 16- and 17-year-olds, for municipal, European and/or general elections and referendums. If we do not move forward with this bill, in the not-too-distant future Ireland will be an outlier.
Adolescence is a time of transition, a period of progression from childhood to adulthood. Some of the recent discourse in the Dáil about young people has focused on the challenges associated with this time of our lives, whether about a lack of access to services or punitive discussions about antisocial behaviour orders (ASBOs), crime, and fear.
Many in the Oireachtas are guilty of undermining the competency, maturity and resilience that young people possess and, in doing so, risk reducing this demographic to a cartoonishly simplistic meme – the surly, anti-social and impulsive teen. This could not be further from the truth. Now, more than ever, young people need champions in the Oireachtas. They deserve advocates across the political spectrum who believe in them – and I am proud that the Social Democrats are providing leadership in this.
Young people have already shown leadership in our country, for instance with the Fridays for Future endeavour. This example awoke in us a critical consciousness about the reform needed to face the existential crisis of climate change and ensure climate justice.
More recently, young people have been at the forefront in advocating for disability rights, access to services and therapeutic assessment. In my 17 years as a youth worker, I worked with thousands of young people who were brimming opinions and ideas, and who are political and hopeful. They are informed and care deeply about their community and society – but many are frustrated at being seen as a problem for the future and feel disempowered by the fact that their voices are not heard in elections until they turn 18.
At 16, a young person can work, pay taxes, and consent to medical treatment offered by the HSE. At 17 they can own and drive an eight-seater car. And yet they have no way of choosing how their taxes are allocated. The question is not one of maturity; it is one of equality. It is not a question of competency; it is about fairness.
I am so proud to have stood in the Dáil last Thursday evening to move this Bill, and to hear my fellow Social Democrat TDs speak with such passion and conviction in support.
The fight for this important cause will continue.
Aidan Farrelly is the Social Democrats TD for Kildare North and our spokesperson for Youth; Children and Equality.