Martin Ferris (Kerry North-West Limerick, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I do not believe there is a single Deputy from a rural constituency who is not well acquainted with the position in respect of emigration or with the loss of our youngest and brightest people as a result of the economic circumstances that prevail. Despite Government spin about a so-called recovery, the available data shows that the number of people in employment in the south west fell by 5,000 last year and that, more significantly, emigration has resulted in a corresponding drop in the number of people available for work. The pain of emigration is not felt only by emigrants. There is a generation of parents and grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, brothers, sisters, nieces and nephews across this State who are grieving for those who have left these shores into find decent work. Wives and children have also been left behind by husbands who have been forced to go abroad in search of work. Not all of those who left where unemployed. However, many were without jobs and many more were involved on those schemes and scams that the Government likes to refer to as "employment" or else they were working in jobs for which they were over-qualified and were, perhaps, on zero-hour contracts. They left to search for work for which they are suitably qualified.

At my constituency office or when I attend local events, I often speak to the people who have been left behind and I can see that their loss is like a hidden bereavement. When their loved ones go across the sea, the people left behind grieve. The fact that we have been obliged to put up with emigration for generations does not make it any easier. The fact that we are not obliged to wait for the postman to bring a handwritten letter from our loved one across the sea and can see our them on a computer screen or send them a text does not mean that we are not suffering their loss. The fervent wish of families left at home and of most of those who go away is that they will return. However, we all know that even with the best will in the world, people lose touch because of the thousands of miles separating them from home.

One of the factors that contributes to this separation is the fact that people who leave also become distant from the political process in their homeland. Citizens should be encouraged to remain in contact with all aspects of life at home.

Families who want their relatives to come home try to keep them in touch with the local GAA team and on how things are doing in the home place, partly to keep them engaged in the political process. One of the most popular ways of keeping people in touch is by means of local newspapers, which people send abroad to keep relatives in touch with events happening in their community at home.

Involvement is an important part of maintaining the relationship with home. Involvement in public life is good for emigrants and for those of us left at home without them. It is unfair that going abroad means automatic disenfranchisement. The Government has set about appointing a Minister with responsibility for the diaspora, but has not taken what would seem to be the natural step of upholding the recommendations of the Constitutional Convention, which recommended that Irish citizens would have the right to vote in presidential elections. That is surprising given that the convention is composed of members from all political parties, among others, and that it offered unanimous support to bring about such a measure. The extension of the franchise to Irish citizens abroad is very popular recommendation of the Constitutional Convention. On seeing that, a good Government would lead from the front and implement the recommendations, but as with many aspects of its work, the Government is being dragged forward by citizens at home and abroad who are now disappointed by the lack of willingness to restore their right to vote.

Extending the vote to all Irish citizens overseas and those living in the North will strengthen Irish democracy. As previous speakers have said, in recent years approximately 500,000 mostly young people have emigrated to Australia, the United States of America, across the water to the United Kingdom, and to many other areas. Let us compare the situation with rights afforded to emigrants from other countries. More than 120 nations have extended voting rights to their emigrants. They include 36 European countries, 21 African countries, 13 in the Americas and 15 Asian countries. When one contrasts that with what we have not done, it is an embarrassment for any Government.

Other countries seem to have no fear of keeping their emigrants close. Some countries even have created constituencies in their national parliaments for their citizens living abroad. Such constituencies then go on to represent the interests of the diaspora. All the representative organisations for emigrants are in favour of extending voting rights in presidential elections and people at home are in favour of it. It is time the Government responded to the call of the people to implement voting rights for our citizens in presidential elections.

The link between citizenship and political representation is one of the most fundamental principles of democracy. We see how Irish citizens in Britain - members of the Irish community - can vote in Britain but not in Ireland. British citizens living in Ireland can vote in Irish elections and are also entitled to register as overseas voters to participate in British elections. The law as it stands creates a second class of Irish citizenship for the Irish in Britain and in other parts of the world as well.

Prior to the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, we had a constitutional claim to jurisdiction of the Six Counties, yet following the implementation of the Agreement - some aspects of it have yet to be implemented - there has been a denial of the right of people who live there to vote in presidential elections. As Deputy Adams said, we would like the Unionist tradition to field a candidate and for all those in the North to have such voting rights. It is part of what the Good Friday Agreement is all about, namely, creating harmonisation within the island of Ireland and also giving equal rights to everybody.

One must also take into account the more than half a million people who have left this country since the beginning of the recession. While the State failed citizens miserably for a considerable time, it continues to fail them by denying them the right to vote in elections on this island. In the 1930s, Peadar O'Donnell said more than half a million people had left in similar circumstances because of the economic situation in the country. Most of those people hardly ever returned. They left behind a lot of pain and suffering, yet they had no political connection to the State. I hope the Minister of State, Deputy Gerald Nash, will take on board what has been said. If he does not wish to listen to Sinn Féin, at least he should listen to the Constitutional Convention, some of whose members are members of his party, which has made the same recommendation. The motion offers an opportunity to the Government. It would be a tremendous statement to those people whom the Government and previous Governments have failed by creating an economic collapse that has forced so many to leave this country. I hope the Minister of State will take on board everything that has been said. I commend the Sinn Féin Party on tabling the motion. I welcome the support of everybody in this House to bring about what we seek.

See this speech in context