Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Ms Nolan and Ms Ní Bhroin and thank them for the presentation. The position of the Commission is not binding, as stated; the competency is one of national parliaments. The way in which the delegates are engaging is very respectful of that. We should not be frightened or any way annoyed because the Commission is pointing to what it believes to be a discrepancy in the rights of citizens of the five countries concerned, including our own. I have a real belief that Irish citizens who reside in the Union should be entitled to participate in elections here. This is long overdue.

As the witnesses will know, there has been a wider debate on the extension of the franchise to the diaspora. While those who remain within the European Union certainly have a legitimate expectation to have a vote, it might be different for citizens who travel farther afield. However, even in this case we need to embrace their views and opinions, although perhaps not as directly as in the case of those who remain within the Union. That creates issues for the Government and for all of us in the political arena. We must ask why one might treat one citizen differently from another but, because of the nature of the European bloc, progress should follow relatively quickly. It would be a first step in dealing with our diaspora. I support strongly and welcome the Commission's consideration of that.

A broader issue concerns whether citizens who seek to have a franchise in a particular state should pay tax in that state. That is not relevant in the context of the European Union because of the free movement of goods, people, services and capital. It is a broader issue, of course, in the case of those who move to Australia, the United States or jurisdictions farther afield. Many of the standard concerns that arise regarding the extension of the franchise are negated in this instance because of the broad bloc that is the European Union.