Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I commend Sinn Féin on this Bill. I acknowledge that the Government has appointed a Minister of State with responsibility for the diaspora and Deputy Deenihan has forged links with groups in different countries.

We should give people in these countries the choice of casting a vote because they are there through no fault of their own. Many of them keep up an interest in, and are as up to date as anybody else on, what is going on in Ireland. It is their home and they have a genuine passion for being involved in their country. I understand that there are issues to be teased out but we should try to get around the obstacles.

One way to show we are interested in doing this is, at the election next year, to put out the hand and have, as Taoiseach’s appointees to the Seanad, people in those countries to represent them. We need to show we are interested in doing this rather than kicking the can down the road for a few more years. All youngsters in secondary school study politics and many know a great deal about it. People might wonder if at the age of 16 they are fit to vote, but because they are learning about it, they know a fair bit about it. One has to commend the system on that. I understand the constitutional difficulties but our first step should be to give people outside the country the opportunity to vote and we can try it with the 16 year olds.

We can overcome the problems because there is unanimity in the House, which is good to see, that we need to look outside the box and give our youngsters a chance. We should be like the 150 countries that give their people who have moved to other places the opportunity to cast a vote. It gives people the feeling of being included, which is very important because some day many of these people will come home. Some countries have different stipulations for people who have been gone for five or ten years. Those are matters we can work on constructively with the diaspora.

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