Eric Byrne (Dublin South Central, Labour)
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The emigrant support programme is particularly welcomed by organisations in America that are doing excellent work. In addition to providing a welfare element, has the Department considered the ability to engage with the diaspora in a more constructive way in so far as emigrants might be able to vote in elections such as presidential elections? It is very common in other countries, including those we criticise all the time, such as Ukraine and Moldova. Has the Tánaiste been in a position to calculate the cost of affording all the Irish in America the right to vote? Would our embassy system be capable of managing them? Has preliminary work been done in the Department on calculating the cost involved in allowing emigrants to vote?