Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Ms Nolan and Ms Ní Bhroin to the meeting. Ireland has a long tradition of emigration in the European context and our nearest neighbour is the primary port of call. Does the delegation know how many Irish citizens live in the EU but outside Ireland? A number of Irish citizens travel to the UK, for example, to work for a period and return. Those people are probably still registered at home and have the right to be registered at home. Is it easier for other European countries because their electoral systems use electronic voting or national identity numbers? Can the witnesses elaborate on the matter? There has been a lot of talk in this country about using PPS numbers and that type of thing for the electoral register. I ask the witnesses to comment on this. Ms Nolan mentioned that the Commission has received a number of petitions from Irish residents. How many?

With regard to other countries whose citizens have the right to vote after leaving, do they also have a right to vote in their existing countries of residence? I think they included some of the main countries. Ms Nolan said the Commission's recommendation was not binding, so presumably it can be considered and left. Is there a chance that it will be made binding? Has there been discussion of this?