Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)

The ability of Irish citizens, regardless of where they reside, to vote in presidential elections is an issue I have been working towards for quite some time. Gerry Adams and I cosponsored a Bill to that effect more than ten years ago. Tá bród orm go bhfuil mé fós ag leanúint leis an bhfeachtas. That Bill, the Thirty-fourth Amendment of the Constitution (Presidential Voting) Bill 2014, passed Second Stage and has been waiting for more than decade to be given committee time for a debate and progression through the Dáil. It has been so long that it would have to be the forty-first amendment to the Constitution if it were voted on by the Irish people tomorrow. The establishment parties fail to see Northerners in particular as Irish citizens. It is okay to have an Irish passport but heaven forbid people want to be politically active in the affairs of the nation. I recall campaigning alongside Martin McGuinness in 2011 when he could run for office but could not vote for himself. Former President Mary McAleese had a similar challenge.

The Government is reluctant to even acknowledge there are Irish citizens excluded by partition just 50 miles north of this Chamber. It continues to ignore the overwhelming support the 2013 constitutional convention in Dublin gave to extending the franchise to Irish citizens living in the North and abroad. Sinn Féin does not hold that narrow, partitionist and insular view of the world. Extending presidential voting rights to Irish citizens living in the Six Counties is a positive, natural outworking of the Good Friday Agreement. Ireland does not end 5 miles from Dundalk or at the shores of Lough Foyle. We respect and value our citizens in the North and those who have made the hard choice to leave the island, often due to economic necessity because of the economic policies of successive Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael Governments. In May, the Assembly in the North backed those voting rights in a historic vote. The Dáil backed them on Second Stage more than ten years ago. In 1997, Fianna Fáil made a manifesto commitment to the diaspora that they would be granted voting rights. Until 2011, Fine Gael was even talking about reserving Seanad seats for candidates voted for specifically by the diaspora. Now is the time to follow through and give the diaspora a vote. The office of President is our face to the world. All of our citizens must be given the ability to choose who represents us. Surely it is long past time to treat all of our citizens as equals.

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