Dr. Adrian Kavanagh:

The people in this room are probably even more expert on some of the issues than I am but I will give my opinions. The question on the constituency issue was a good one. Would a low turnout for the diaspora population mean people would be elected with very small numbers? The example of Croatia suggests this would be the case. Some people were elected with 1,000 votes. It would be an issue. If and when we go down the line of extending voting rights to the diaspora, it might be an issue. On the other hand, one could argue there would not be an issue if it were done right. I suggest a body, preferably an electoral commission, should be in charge which would be mandated to organise it and ensure as many members of the Irish diaspora as possible are registered and have the potential to get as much information about the elections as possible, and this body would also facilitate the voting process.

How to facilitate it is a very interesting question. Unsurprisingly, geography comes into it. I believe Maltese people who are overseas and allowed to vote fly back to Malta and part of their expenses is paid. Obviously this is not something we want to do. Another issue is whether people would only be allowed to vote at the embassy. This would be another geographical issue. One would probably find more Irish people living in and near London would vote than Irish people living in and near Glasgow. This needs to be thought out. There are also issues with postal voting which would need to be considered. Estonia is working on e-voting. The suggestion from the literature is that e-voting has potential but may need a few more years of development. Potentially it could be the way to do it.