Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I saw Deputy Adams in Áras an Uachtaráin and he is quite familiar with Uachtarán na hÉireann. I am not sure that it is appropriate for the Deputy to refer to him just by his first name in the Dáil. I believe the Uachtarán would like to be referred to with his official title, which is Uachtarán na hÉireann, and not as the Deputy referred to him.

This matter was the subject of discussion at the Cabinet sub-committee a few days ago. We have a Minister of State with responsibility for the diaspora, the second person to hold that position, and obviously we have a great deal of interest in this issue.

In reality, it boils down to the question of citizenship and how we deal with the definition of that in the context of the law that already exists and how that should be determined for those who would vote. Clearly, on that basis, the citizens of Northern Ireland would be eligible to vote in a presidential election. This matter is being worked on and I will return to it in mid-January for an update on a number of questions that I have raised about this.

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