The issue of votes for emigrants has arisen again. The proposal has always been controversial, but now more so, as emigration increased 81% from 2006-2010.
Migration from Ireland is at its highest level since the late 1980s. With the General Election coming up, the issue is being pushed to the fore again.
Emigrants having the right to vote has been put on the political agenda many times before the Glór an Deoraí (Irish Emigrants' Voice) lobby group was set-up to form a campaign for the right of Irish emigrants to vote in Ireland.
In March 1991, a Private Members Bill was introduced in the Dáil. If passed, this Bill would have given emigrants the right to vote for up to 15 years after becoming non-resident. However, it was defeated by 66-62.
According to the then Minister for the Environment, Padraig Flynn, the Bill was opposed by the Government 'for reasons of principle, practical and administrative reality.'
Labour Leader Eamon Gilmore put forward an amendment to the 1993 Presidential Act that would give emigrants the right to vote for up to 15 years in presidential elections.
A select Committee was established in the 1990s recommending the abolition of six Seanad university seats to be replaced by three emigrant seats.
The issue was tabled in 2002 at the All-Party Committee on the Constitution, which concluded that the right to vote in Oireachtas elections should remain confined to citizens ordinarily resident in the State.
The renewed Programme for Government agreed in October 2009 that recommendations be made on the feasibility of extending Presidential Elections to the Irish abroad.
In January 2010, a question was put to the Dáil by Finian McGrath, Independent TD for Dublin North Central: 'Question 676: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will support the campaign on votes for Irish emigrants in view of the fact that 115 countries already support this view; and if he will use this initiative to support the economy here.'
Then Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin responded, saying it is the responsibility of the Department of Environment to progress this issue.
Other countries' solutions
The International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance conducted research and calculated how a total of 115 countries, to varying degrees, provide their citizens with voting rights in national elections.
Recently on RTÉ's Drivetime, the programme spoke to Australians and Australian-Irish going into the embassy to cast their votes.
The Australian system requires that all voters cast their ballot or face a fine.
UK court case
In the High Court in the UK, British man James Preston claims that the right to the free movement of persons guaranteed by the EU Treaty is being violated by the time limits imposed by a British election law.
The man has been living in Madrid up to 15 years.
He is challenging the fact that under UK law a person must be out of the country no longer than 15 years to have the right to vote in UK elections.
If successful, all EU member states, including Ireland, could be required to ensure that their citizens can vote in elections if they live within the EU.
Arguments for:
- Commentators question how graduates of National University of Ireland or Trinity may vote in Seanad elections no matter where they live in the world but for non-graduates of these colleges there is no such mechanism.
- Irish people who live abroad are as informed as citizens within the State through the internet, they are able to listen to radio programmes that people in Ireland listen to.
- Many who emigrate are doing so for economic reasons.
Arguments against:
- No tax, no vote
- There are thousands of Irish passport holders who have never lived in Ireland
- The number of citizens who live abroad and exercise their vote is rather slim (in other countries)
Should Irish citizens living abroad be allowed to vote in Irish general elections? Tell us what you think here.
