THE voting age should be lowered to 17 and political parties should be “named and shamed” if they don’t take sufficient steps to increase the number of women in politics, a cross-party Oireachtas committee has recommended.

The Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government John Gormley has said the establishment of an Electoral Commission is likely within the life of the current Government.

National politicians rate tackling issues in their own backyard as being more important than developing new laws, it was revealed today.

Efforts to secure voting rights for 16-year-olds will continue before an Oireachtas committee today.

SPEAKING at the Joint Committee on the Constitution, the chairman of the Independent Broadcasters of Ireland, Willie O’Reilly, is reported (November 12) as expressing concern at the practice whereby media outlets are required to provide equal time to both sides in a referendum debate “regardless of the merit” of any argument.