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Housing Committee to discuss extending right to vote and lowering voting age

31 May 2017, 17:10

The Joint Committee on Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government will meet tomorrow to conduct detailed scrutiny of the Thirty-fourth Amendment of the Constitution (Presidential Voting) Bill 2014 [PMB].

The meeting will comprise two separate sessions:

Session A: Mr. Seán Crowe T.D.; Mr. Gerry Adams T.D.

Session B: Officials from the Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government.

The meeting will start at 9.30am in Committee Room 1, Leinster House.

Committee Chairperson, Maria Bailey TD, said: “This Bill, sponsored by Deputies Adams and Crowe, proposes to lower the voting age for presidential elections to 16 and extend presidential election voting rights to Irish citizens worldwide. Tomorrow’s meeting is particularly timely in light of the government’s announcement in March that a referendum would be held to amend Article 12 of the constitution to allow Irish citizens resident outside the State to vote in Irish presidential elections. The process will undoubtedly be complicated and costly, so Committee members will want to ensure that this Private Members Bill offers a fair and cost-efficient plan for extending the franchise.”

Committee proceedings can be viewed live here.

Committee proceedings can also be viewed on the move, through the Houses of the Oireachtas Smartphone App, available for Apple and Android devices.









Media enquiries

Nuala Walsh,
Houses of the Oireachtas,
Communications Unit,
Leinster House,
Dublin 2
+353 1 618 3437
+353 86 4100 898
nuala.walsh@oireachtas.ie
Twitter: @OireachtasNews

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