Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)

I am delighted to speak on this issue and thank Sinn Féin for tabling the motion. As we know, most parties in this House and in this country say they are in favour of a united Ireland. They say they are in favour of many things. It is nice to say. I want to put it on the record that I am fully in favour of a united Ireland. I come from a republican family. My late dad was in the War of Independence and spent 14 months of his life in Castlerea as well as time spent on the run. We salute him and the many people like him for the freedom we have. It is a pity we were not able to do all of it at the time. He opposed the treaty and I think it was a bad job as well and now we have that situation in Ireland today.

I am disappointed that the semi-new custom has come into this House whereby the Government decides not to oppose motions like this. It acquiesces and allows it to go forward but that is as far as it gets. It is left on a shelf gathering dust. That is not a good idea. Motions are agreed and people think they have got somewhere but they have not.

As we know, the former President Mary McAleese and the late Martin McGuinness, both of whom were born and reared in Northern Ireland, stood for election to the Office of President, with and former President McAleese serving for two terms. It is a bit farcical that a citizen living in Northern Ireland can stand for election here but cannot vote in a presidential election here. We need to examine that. Maybe we could put our toe in the water with the presidential election and see what type of appetite there is in Northern Ireland for people to participate in electoral democracy down here.

We also have to turn our eyes to the low turnout in elections in the South. We must also examine the perilous state of the electoral register. It is in a terrible state. I thank the people in south Tipperary County Council who I and my office deal with regarding corrections to the register. There is nothing more hurtful or annoying to a family than if someone has been deceased for one, two, three or maybe ten years and his or her name is still on the electoral register. It is unforgivable that death certificates are not linked up with the electoral register. What is wrong with this country that in 2025 there cannot be a synchronisation with death certificates? One's birth certificate is a very important document and one's death certificate should be also. In this age of technology why can we not have an automatic rectifying of the register when somebody passes away? There is nothing more hurtful when a family receives a letter from An Coimisiún Toghcháin, as well as many other letters and surveys and everything else, for a deceased person. It is shocking and not good enough.

I know some efforts were made this time but, for last year's local and general elections there should have been a shorter or more up-to-date closing date before which people had to register. People should be able to register online with their PPS number up to 24 hours before the election. There is apathy and a low turnout of maybe 58%. One must ask why that is. We see now there is no great interest in standing for the presidential election at this time. Maybe we should consider having a constitutional review of the role of President. If the President differs on anything or steps on the Government's toes, it is not accepted. We need a President who will look after all of the needs of all of the people of Ireland. We should strive to have an evaluation of how the Constitution is serving us in that area. I am not criticising it but maybe it is time to update it.

As for diaspora living abroad, of course I believe they should be entitled to have a vote. Many of them chose to go. We see young graduates going in their droves, which is a pity, but many of them still want to have a say and they have the aspiration to come back here. One meets people who have been living in America or other places for 20 or 30 years and are still anxious to come back to their native soil. Deputy Connolly mentioned fidelity to the nation. That has gone a long way down the line and our Taoiseach and other leaders here can be questioned on that. He is interested in parliaments all over the world, as is the former Taoiseach, but he is not interested in the issues at home and he has a béal dúnta on the issue of migration into this country - inward migration. The Six Counties - I would love to have all Thirty-two Counties - is like a sieve, with people who are not entitled to be here coming across the Border. That is very wrong. It is like an elephant in the room. We have closed our ears to it and will not deal with the problem and listen to the people out there. That is the rock we will perish on. We must listen to people who have concerns. We must not demonise, attack or demean them for questioning our immigration policies and the greed that is involved now with the people who are getting into the industry in a caring role, mar dhea. We have a great record in this country for caring, with our diaspora - brothers, sisters and everybody else - having gone all over the world, including to third world countries and those experiencing famine. We now need to have a proper policy on inward immigration here and allow people who want to be involved to be involved, but not the greed merchants who are there to make vast millions.

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