In truth it was never really about empowering young people. No matter what the Government might have said. The referendum on lowering the age of eligibility to stand for president was a failed attempt to pretend that this Government is committed to a political reform agenda.
As the most recent Irish Times /Ipsos Mrbi poll ahead of the referendums made clear young people were completely unconvinced, and actually in a strong majority against the proposal. Even among 25 to 34-year-olds , precisely those who would "benefit" from the extension of the right to stand, 60 per cent indicated they would vote No, while only one in four supported the proposal.
Some imperfect indication of the limited degree to which lack of enthusiasm for lowering the potential age of presidential candidates mirrored opposition to marriage reform can be gleaned from the fact that eight of the strongest 10 Yes constituencies on same-sex marriage were to be found in the 10-strong group, all Dublin, of the weakest No constituencies in the presidential vote. And six out of 10 constituencies most weakly approving same-sex marriage were among the 10 strongest rejectionists on the presidential vote. Roscommon-South Leitrim, alone in voting No on same-sex marriage, recorded the third highest vote against the change in the presidency.
In part such variations reflect the age profiles of constituencies, with the older constituencies, probably also those which have seen the highest youth emigration and migration to the cities, polling most strongly against the change. The older voters were bound to be less convinced by the case for 21-year-olds’ political maturity.
But the anecdotal evidence of canvassers also suggested strongly that many voters were simply bewildered and even angered by being asked a question that they saw as largely peripheral to the major agenda of political reform that has been promised and is remains left on the long, very long, finger. They simply took the opportunity in rejecting the proposal, as they have in other recent referendums, to kick the government. Were they answering the question asked? Not at all.