Thomas Gould (Cork North-Central, Sinn Fein)

Democracy is at its best when it is robust and transparent. I understand that there in awful lot of anger at the process certain parties took during the nomination process for presidential candidates. This has to be looked at. Looking back, the majority of people agree on that.

I sat on the housing committee during the establishment of the Electoral Commission. Now is the time to commence the review of presidential elections. We have seven years to get this done. We can work together. This is something the vast majority if not all of the Dáil agrees with. The process should start as soon as possible. This must be the last election where the voting rights of our comrades and fellow Irish citizens in the Six Counties and around the world are blocked. I have friends in America, Canada, Australia and England who are as Irish as me. I have friends in the Six Counties who are even more Irish. I only have cúpla focal as Gaeilge. I have friends in the North who are fluent Irish speakers. Their family are also fluent Irish speakers. They feel it more and they are denied that right. We will work with the Minister and with everyone to make sure this is the last time they are excluded. "Vote Connolly ... cause we can't." Those are words of Kneecap, the Irish language activists and musicians who will not be able to vote in the presidential election on Friday. That is not because they do not love this island, do not champion the cause of Ireland or are not Irish citizens. It is not because of where they were born or the language they speak or because of a sport or their passports. It is because they live on the opposite side of an imaginary boundary line that means they cannot vote.

How can that be right? How can people who live on this island and who are Irish citizens be denied a vote by a line that is only imaginary? Young people across the island have been really inspired by this presidential campaign. I know some people are angry and disillusioned, but the young people I talk to have a vision for the President they want to see. When I cast my vote on Friday, I will be casting it for the likes of Mo Chara, the president of GAA, Jarlath Burns, and all of the people I know in the Six Counties and across the world who are Irish citizens who cannot vote. How can it be right that Irish citizens are not allowed to vote? It is not right. It is as simple as that. When I vote on Friday, I will raise my voice for all of them.

Presidential voting rights are a symbol of a united Ireland. That should unite us, all traditions and all people. The Ballymena actor James Nesbitt comes from a unionist background, but that does not stop him from identifying as an Irishman. He cannot vote for a person seeking to become the President of Ireland. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have failed to act, which means that people from the unionist tradition are being treated like second-class citizens. We do not want that for anyone, whether unionist, nationalist, republican, dissenter or none of the aforementioned. Legislation to extend presidential voting rights was introduced in 2014. It actually exists. It is a tangible thing. Why is the Government letting it gather dust? We have an opportunity here.

I will leave the Minister with this. I was sent a message after the last time I spoke. This person said that they are as Irish as the rest of the land and that, whether we are from Cork or Belfast, we were not just born in Ireland, Ireland was born in us.

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