Refusal to hold voting-age referendum 'nothing to do with Government's lack of popularity'

A Cabinet Minister has today denied that plans to give the vote to 16-year-olds have been delayed for reasons of electoral strategy.

Jobs Minister Richard Bruton said that the Government should not hold too many referendums at the same time.

He denied that the Government's lack of unpopularity with young people has anything to do with the delay.

"No, I mean clearly there's a number of referenda [that] have been put forward by the Constitutional Convention, we've dealt with each one as they've come up, and we are now putting in place a schedule of referenda," he said.

"Clearly, the decisions that are coming up in the May referendum are going to be really important - on same-sex marriage, a very important issue, clearly we will be focusing on that one."