'Even Jesus could not be President' jokes Minister Noonan

The Finance Minister has joked that even Jesus could not stand for the Irish Presidency with our current age restrictions.

People will be asked to vote on May 22 on reducing the age of contesting the Presidency from 35 to 21.

But officially the Government is not taking a stance or even campaigning on the referendum.

Michael Noonan said that there is a case for a YES vote on the issue.

"I don't expect a lot of 21-year-olds to be in Áras an Uachtaráin in the immediate future, but it is peculiar that you can be president if you are 35 and you cannot if you are 34," the Minister said.

"That would have excluded people like Michael Collins and the Lord Himself, so there is a case to be made for reducing the age."