Thousands of Polish citizens have been queuing outside their embassy on the Ailesbury Road in Dublin to vote in their country's election.
They can also vote at four schools across Dublin, as well as at two locations in Co Cork and in Athlone, Co Galway, Co Kilkenny and Co Limerick.
More than 24,000 Polish nationals are registered to vote here and long queues have been forming since early this morning at 11 polling stations around Ireland.
The Polish embassy said they have seen a large turnout at each of the polling stations and that the number of voters registered in Ireland has increased by over 10,000 since the last election.
It said: "Voting has started in Ireland at 7am and will end at 9pm. There are 11 polling stations.
"At the moment we see a very high number of voters in each polling station, including the embassy in Ballsbridge.
"There are indeed 24,500 voters registered compared to 14,455 who registered in the last election."
Waiting in a long queue, which stretched some distance up the Ailsebury Road, Polish voters explained why they had turned out in such large numbers to vote.
One voter, Wojciech Cymerys, said: "It's important for every citizen to have a say on how their country is run, regardless of whether we're at the country or not.
"Because a lot of us may eventually want to return to the country and having a say on what the government looks like at a given moment, I think its important."
Aldona Aniol was there with her partner Dariusz and their son Stanislaw. They first arrived in Ireland when Stanislaw was just a baby in 2007 and today he was voting for the first time in a national election.
Aldona said this election was crucial "because we can lose access to be part of, the possibility to be part of the European Union, if the current government would be still in power. That is what I am thinking. I cannot say for all the queue, but that's why I'm here."
Thousands of Polish people are queuing outside their Embassy and in ten other locations across Dublin, Athlone, Cork, Galway, Kilkenny and Limerick today in what promises to be an important election- I spoke to some of them for @rtenews- full report later from @liamnolanRTE pic.twitter.com/YuZvVgF7lO
— Eleanor Burnhill (@ElMcM) October 15, 2023
Lukas and Aleksandra Kazmierczak were also out casting their ballot.
Lukas said: "We're just trying to help all the people who are in Poland and my family and friends to change what their situation and what the political situation is in Poland right now, because its pretty bad and I think we're all here to change it."
He said he would not be voting in the accompanying referendum on migration. He added: "That referendum is a joke, I think is the best way to describe it, so I'm not planning to participate in that."
One woman said she was not surprised by the hundreds who had turned out in Dublin this afternoon and she was prepared to wait for hours if necessary.
She said: "Its a very decisive election so I think people turned out. I didn't bother in previous years but this year it just feels like it will make more of a difference."
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Katrzyna Subkowsk, who was in the queue with her eight-year-old daughter, said: "There is a lot happening in Poland at the moment, for the last eight years actually and I wish maybe one day we'll come back and maybe she will have like a free country. She can decide about herself, her body and what she wants to study there."
She said the current government was steering the country away from the European Union, "and I think that's not the right direction for our country".
Overall, there are 402 electoral districts abroad which can vote in these parliamentary elections, 94 more than in 2019.
Voters had to complete the online registration process by 10 October in order to vote today.
There were more than 122,000 Polish nationals living in Ireland according to the census in 2016.
