Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)

This gruelling presidential campaign will result in an Irish President representing all of the people living on this island and the global family of Irish citizens. She will endeavour to make us all proud, no matter where we live, yet the electorate is confined to Irish citizens living in the Twenty-six Counties. Even that franchise is restricted because many students will not be able to make it home in time to vote, there are workers living too far away from their designated polling booths and there are people who will be on holiday or working abroad on polling day. Postal voting or proxy voting must be extended to make it possible for those citizens to vote.

Turning to the North, the question must be asked; what does Irish citizenship mean? In 2013, the Convention on the Constitution voted overwhelmingly in favour of extending the presidential franchise to Northern citizens and Irish citizens living abroad. That question was settled. Let us ask ourselves today what it means to be a citizen. Over 700,000 people in the North of Ireland now hold Irish passports. This number has grown significantly since Brexit. They carry that passport not simply as a travel document, but as a declaration of belonging, of national identity and of faith in the Republic they believe represents them. Being an Irish citizen must mean more than the possession of a passport. The true and practical expression of citizenship is the right to participate in democracy, the right to vote to shape the leadership and direction of your nation. That right, the right to choose the President of Ireland, the head of State for all of our people, has been denied to citizens resident in the North of Ireland and to our citizens abroad for far too long. The President of Ireland represents not just the Twenty-six Counties of this Republic, but the nation, the Thirty-two Counties of Ireland and the ever-expanding Irish family across the world.

It is frankly reprehensible that our Government continues to turn its face against extending this basic democratic right to the very people who embody that national identity. In these 12 long years, what has been the Government's response? The Minister's response earlier was that the Government is reflecting. There has been 12 years of reflection. That must be a world record for reflecting. In Global Ireland: Ireland's Diaspora Strategy 2020-2025, the Government committed to holding a referendum on this issue but here we are, almost at the end of 2025, and another presidential election will come and go while Irish citizens in the North remain voiceless in the choice of their Head of State. Where is the referendum? Where is the courage to act? There is no place left for this Government to hide in relation to presidential voting rights. This has to be put right now. We must correct it in the first two years of this Presidency. It is plainly unacceptable and morally wrong that the Government has failed to act on this promise.

Ireland is now an outlier in the democratic world. Over 150 countries already grant their citizens abroad the right to vote in their national elections. Thousands of people living on this island, citizens of other countries, can vote for the president of their country of origin. Why not Ireland? What is the Government afraid of? Let us be honest here; this is not about logistics, complexity or cost but about a political choice to deny Irish citizens the right to vote for their President, a choice made by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, which fear that extending the vote would expose their lack of representation in the North and remind the diaspora of the economic policies that forced them to leave our shores. My deepest hope is that this next President will be the last Head of State on this partitioned island.

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