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THE FIRST BALLOT of members of the Constitutional Convention has seen delegates vote in favour of lowering the voting age but oppose a reduction in the term of office of the president.
The results come after the Convention held its first full meeting at the Grand Hotel in Malahide, north Dublin this weekend where 100 delegates – 66 members of the public, 33 politicians and chairman Tom Arnold – discussed two of the nine issues being considered by the Convention.
The government has promised to consider all recommendations put forward by the Convention.
Fifty-two delegates voted in favour of lowering the voting age while 47 of those present voted against the idea and one had no opinion.
Of these 48 delegates were in favour of lowering the voting age to 16, thirty-nine wanted it lowered to 17. Fourteen delegates had no opinion.
Fifty-one delegates voted against reducing the age of the candidacy to stand for elections – which is currently 21 – while 42 said the age should be reduced. Seven said they did not know.
On the proposal to reduce the voting age for other types of elections such as locals, 68 people said they would be against this idea, 28 were for it and five said they didn’t know.
On reducing the term of the presidency from seven to five years, 57 people were against the idea while 43 were for it.
Asked if the term of the presidency were reduced should it be aligned with local and European elections, 80 people said it should not be while 14 said it should be while six had no opinion.
The Convention overwhelmingly backed a proposal for citizens to have a say in the nomination of a candidate – at present a presidential candidate needs the support of 20 Oireachtas members or four local councils – with 94 saying Yes and six saying No.
A one-term presidency of seven years split delegates with 44 voting in favour of this and 44 voting against while 12 did not know. A one-term presidency of five years was rejected by 78 people, accepted by 14 people and eight did not know.
On reducing the age for the candidacy for presidential elections – which is currently 35 – half of delegates were in favour of this, 47 were against and three did not know.
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I don’t blame them. I had problems getting and HB1ac last week due to the first strike. But I would not blame these guys. And don’t start the FF/FG nonsense. This is the HSE. And nothing BUT the HSE. Governments come and go. But the permanent government in the HSE is to blame for decades of bad management. No party can fix this alone. There needs to be a route and branch and heads need to roll. That will require cross party support and a stomach in the public. These fat cats won’t go quietly.
@Dave Connolly: and who appoints the top positions in HSE??
@Dave Connolly: Wrong Dave. The HSE can’t just decide who gets paid what. They are forced to negotiate with one hand behind their back as, although it doesn’t attend pay negotiations, the sanction of the Department of Finance is required before ANY public service pay deal can be signed off.
@Dave Connolly: finally someone talking sense !
Although it affected me today had a procedure done was to do bloods after so specialist gets results for appointment next weekt. But fully support them so back in again on friday for bloods .
Just do the right thing. The day is coming when you (the government) will need these people who work tirelessly for all of us.
Just pay them the money. The cost of all the strikes and faffing about will be more than the rise in the long run. It’s not like they haven’t been flagging this for 20yrs.
Completely agree. Their work is essential and having upgraded their qualifications it’s short-sighted not to offer them opportunities to improve their salary without changing jobs. They’re familiar with the health system and have put in the years. I can’t see any reason to stall any longer – it’s a reasonable request.
Well good for them. They deserve it and are one group who went above and beyond during the pandemic and never got a mention.
@Mary Conneely: Well said Mary fair play to ya!
Fight for your rights, otherwise you will be trampled upon.
The HSE is a dysfunctional organisation, riddled with Managers appointed through the Peter Principle and kept in their roles by clinging and enabling bullies. This strike should never have happened, preempted resolution was the obvious answer should it have been accepted but now the ordinary people suffer again through deferred appointments.
@Terry Larkin: But your bus driver does not control the spread of viruses, bacteria and fungi all over the world,not to mention antibiotic resistance which is another calamity heading your way!!
Wage disparity happens in all work places. But fairs fair. And they should be paid accordingly.
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