The voting age for Dáil elections should drop from 18 to 17 years-of-age, according to the final report of the Committee on the Constitution, which has examined possible electoral reforms.
The committee recommended by-elections should be held within six months of a vacancy occurring.
Voting should take place at weekends and over two days to increase participation and the method of distributing or transferring surplus votes should change.
However, the report recommended no change to the number of TDs: 166 deputies will continue to represent 43 constituencies.
All constituencies should have at least four TDs, although three would suffice “where the geographic size of such a constituency would be disproportionately large”.
The committee recommended that the Attorney General examine the constitutional implications of a proposed measure to withhold funding from parties which do not have enough women candidates.
“Any measure which coerced political parties to select certain types of candidates or which imposed a quota in that regard would probably be unconstitutional,” the report said.
A voter education programme should be introduced as part of the senior cycle programme in second-level schools.
