Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal West, Sinn Fein)

The constitutional convention met in 2013 to consider the issue of voting rights for citizens living outside outside this State. A clear majority backed voting rights for citizens in presidential elections. Sinn Féin first tabled legislation to give effect to this recommendation in 2014. The Bill passed First and Second Stages and we have retabled it in every Dáil since. A motion on extending presidential voting rights was passed in the Northern Assembly earlier this year.

This is absolutely massive. This is the Government’s cue to take action. Ignoring the clear views of the Assembly and the convention goes against the very spirit of the Good Friday Agreement. We will have a presidential election later this year, and those Irish citizens in the North who want to vote will be left out once again. The Government should not allow the disenfranchisement of a significant portion of the population of this island.

The President of Ireland is the President of all of Ireland. If you live in Balbriggan, you have a say and that is right, but if you go a few miles up the road to Newry, you are left out and disenfranchised. Likewise, if you go abroad, as the Minister of State does, you meet people who have been forced out by his Government’s housing crisis. The Minister of State can shake his head, but he should ask them when he is next abroad and they will tell him why they have been forced out. When he speaks to them, they will tell him very clearly that they want the right to vote. They have a stake in what happens and they want to keep an eye on this island because most of them want to come home. The Government should end its delaying tactics, set a date for the referendum and let us work together so that all Irish citizens can have a vote for their President.

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