John Paul Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 1:

In page 3, between lines 15 and 16, to insert the following:“Amendment of section 6 of Principal Act

2. Section 6 of the Principal Act is amended by the deletion of “or the United Kingdom” in each place that it occurs.”.

These provisions remove the explicit reference to the United Kingdom and British citizens from the European Parliament Elections Act of 1997. These explicit references are contained in sections 6 and 11 and in rules 5, 6, 10, 18, 19 and 96 of the Second Schedule to the Act. The references in section 6 relate to the entry of British citizens resident in the State on the register of electors and the exchange of information that is required with other members states as to which member state, where applicable, such European electors intend to vote in.

The remaining references concern the eligibility of British citizens to stand as candidates for elections to the European Parliament held in Ireland and the exchange of information provisions required under the nomination process. Council Directive 1/2013 of 20 December 2012, amending directive 109/1993, relates to certain detailed arrangements for the exercise of the right to stand as a candidate in elections to the European Parliament for citizens of the Union residing in a member state of which they are not nationals. There are requirements on member states to exchange certain information with other member states on non-national European citizens resident in their territories. This is to prevent a person from double voting or from standing as a candidate in a member state if he or she has been prohibited from doing so in his or her home member state.

By virtue of these provisions of the European Parliament Elections Act 1997, British citizens resident in the State are treated in an identical manner to Irish citizens. In particular, in rule 10 of the Second Schedule, British citizens who wish to stand as candidates in elections to the European Parliament held in Ireland have 14 days in which to submit their nomination forms and other citizens from the European Union have only seven days in which to return their nomination forms.

While member states are permitted to differentiate between their own citizens and those from other member states who may wish to stand as candidates in the European Parliament elections to permit the necessary checks to take place, having multiple deadlines which distinguish between the citizens of other member states is considered incompatible with the requirements of Council Directive 1/2013. Legal opinion recently provided by the Attorney General confirms that multiple deadlines would most likely amount to direct discrimination between Union citizens and may not be capable of being justified.

Accordingly these amendments propose to remove the explicit reference to British citizens from the Act to ensure compliance with Council Directive 1/2013. In addition, these amendments are proposed on the grounds that legal opinion has also advised that when the UK withdraws from the European Union, British citizens resident in Ireland will no longer have a right to vote at, or stand as candidates in, elections to the European Parliament. In effect, the UK will be a third country and its citizens will no longer be citizens of the Union with all rights and entitlements consequent on that. In the event that the UK does not withdraw from the European Union, British citizens resident in the State will be treated in the same manner as other European Union citizens resident in the State in the context of the right to vote at, and stand in, elections to the European Parliament that are held in Ireland.

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