Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time."

I am delighted to be able to introduce this Bill in the House today. It is a good-news story. The Bill simply seeks to extend the democratic franchise, the right to vote, to all Irish citizens across the country in presidential elections. This is no small thing at all. Enfranchising 1 million Irish citizens is massively important. It is historic in many ways. This Bill would have significant consequences. To put it in context, the last time we saw a Bill affecting the franchise on this island at this level was in 1918. The last time that any legislation was passed to give the right to vote to a section of Irish citizens across the country was over 100 years ago. Indeed, the last time Irish citizens in the North of Ireland got a chance to vote in an all-Ireland election was in 1918. That is an incredible fact.

This Bill should not be underestimated. I ask the Minister of State to imagine circumstances in which she, as a passport holder and an Irish citizen, did not have or was denied the right to vote in a presidential election. Imagine if it was not just her but also her family and entire constituency that was refused the right to vote in a presidential election. I imagine she would be furious. She would see that as a massive attack on and affront to her democratic rights. Yet, that is exactly what is happening in the North of Ireland at present. Hundreds of thousands of citizens who were born in Ireland, who live in Ireland, who play Gaelic games and who hold Irish passports are refused the right to vote. In many ways, this is an affront to the Good Friday Agreement, which states that citizens in the North of Ireland have the right to Irish citizenship.

The Good Friday Agreement has been in place since 1998 but we still have not implemented the spirit of it in the intervening period. I ask the Minister of State to imagine the sheer joy of Irish citizens in the North of Ireland if they were able to cast a vote in an all-Ireland election for the first time since 1918 and the sheer joy she would afford them if they were allowed to do so. Shockingly, a person from the North of Ireland can campaign in a presidential election. They can put their name forward for election as President. They can win a presidential election. They can actually be the President of this country, but they cannot vote in presidential elections. Mary McAleese is the perfect example in this regard. Would the Minister of State deny Mary McAleese's Irishness? Would she say that she is less Irish than she or I because of where she was born and raised? I am sure the Minister of State would not do so.

Yet, in a legal and democratic sense, we do exactly that to well over 700,000 passport holders in the North of Ireland. Irish citizens from the North of Ireland can join the Irish Army. They can fight and die for Ireland but they do not have the right to vote in a democratic election on the island of Ireland. That is an affront. It is wrong and it needs to be changed.

The legislation that we in Aontú have put forward is not a zero-sum Bill. Often, we talk about the constitutional situation in the North of Ireland as, when nationalists gain something, it in some way takes a right from our unionist brothers and sisters. This Bill does not do that in any sense. It does not remove anything from our unionist brothers and sisters. It simply adds to the rights of Irish people. On most of the constitutional questions that we discuss, debate or converse on in the Dáil, we talk about not having the ability to do it. However, the crazy thing is that the power for this change lies not in Westminster or Stormont, but here in Leinster House. It is we who can make the change in law to create the constitutional right for people to have a referendum on this issue. This is in our gift. If there is a wrong in relation to people not being given the right to vote in the North of Ireland, that wrong lies on the shoulders of the people here.

It is over 100 years since the Irish Boundary Commission. If the Minister of State knows her history, she will know that the Boundary Commission was just one in a long list of bitter blows against Northern nationalists in terms of participating in Ireland. It shut the door to Northern nationalists playing a democratic role here. Surely, it is now time, 100 years later, for us to open that door to these citizens to be able to vote in this country.

From what I know, Fine Gael supports a united Ireland. It is my understanding that every party in this Dáil currently supports a united Ireland. For some people, Irish unity is for some time in the future. For Aontú, we support it now. The majority of Irish citizens, when polled, say over and over again that they support a united Ireland. This Bill does not even go that far. It is an incremental step along the way, but it does not go that far.

My understanding is that the Government is not going to oppose the Bill on Second Stage. I welcome that. It is wonderful that the Government is not going to oppose it. I urge the Government to join in a cross-party effort to speedily get this legislation through the Oireachtas in the next year. Sometimes, it is the practice of the Government not to oppose something that is popular. We often see that the best way for a Government to say "No" is to say "Yes" and then do nothing about it. My worry is that this Bill will get through Second Stage but then languish just before it gets into committee. In other words, the Government majority on a committee will simply not facilitate the Bill moving to Committee Stage to allow it to proceed. If that happens, it will be absolutely shocking.

One of the barriers to this Bill - it is the same as the barrier to a united Ireland - is that some political parties see these steps as a threat to their own party interests. Some political parties put their party interests ahead of the national interest on these issues. Before partition was introduced, Liam Mellows stated that if partition was introduced, two establishments would grow on either side of the Border that would depend on the Border for their power and the removal of the Border would threaten their ability to govern, and so it has come to pass in many ways.

If we are honest, there are those in Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil who see this Bill, if it were in place, as preventing them from having the opportunity to win a presidential election. Maybe 700,000 voters from the North of Ireland would plump for a Sinn Féin candidate and, therefore, make it more difficult for Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael to win a presidential election. It has always been Aontú's view that the reason Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are reticent about Irish unity is that they are regional political parties. They are not national political parties. They do not represent Irish people in the North of Ireland. Therefore, in a general election, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael's representation in an all-Ireland Dáil would shrink and they would be less likely to be able to form a Government. If that is the case, it is wrong. It is wrong for an individual political party to put party political interests ahead of the national interest. I urge the Government to make sure that is not the case. If that is the Government's fear, the democratic right to vote should not be dependent upon the outcome of an election. The right to vote, the franchise, should be independent of that outcome, whatever it should be. As a democrat, I think the Minister of State would agree with that premise.

Right now, Sinn Féin in the North of Ireland is not doing so well politically. According to the opinion polls, its support is at its lowest in five years. Northern nationalists now have much more opportunity to vote for other political parties, such as Aontú, than they did before. It is not a given that 700,000 voters in the North of Ireland would plump for one political party.

This Bill has the potential to create a dynamic in all-Ireland politics that we do not even understand. Through legislation like this, some people from a Protestant, unionist and loyalist background would be attracted to also vote in a presidential election. People from a unionist background might vote for Fine Gael. They might feel that Fine Gael is the logical party to vote for in such a situation. There is no guarantee that only nationalists would vote in a presidential election. There is a growing number of people from a Protestant, unionist and loyalist background in the North of Ireland who, because of Brexit, have become frustrated with the so-called United Kingdom and are now more interested in the opportunities that a united Ireland could provide, or at least an all-Ireland democracy could provide. That situation could very easily develop if this Bill were enacted.

If a small political party like Aontú can function in the North of Ireland, form cumainn and compete in elections, and if the Green Party and People Before Profit can do likewise, why can the Government parties not do it? Why can Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil not represent people in the North of Ireland? Fianna Fáil was very close to doing so once when it opened a cumann in Queen's University. It planned to open further cumainn in the North. Mark Daly and Éamon Ó Cuív were suspended from Fianna Fáil for landing in Omagh to officially declare a candidate in an election as a Fianna Fáil candidate in the North of Ireland. Unfortunately, under Micheál Martin, that move towards united Ireland politics has reversed significantly. Hopefully when Micheál Martin retires, Fianna Fáil too will open cumainn in the North and contest elections. That is the solution to this. Without any change in the law, all political parties could create an all-Ireland dynamic by simply standing for elections in the North. We have a moral responsibility to represent all Irish people in Ireland and not just a segment of people in the North. This is important for the Government's future development. A united Ireland is coming. There is a growing demographic change in the North of Ireland. There is a growing section of the Protestant, unionist and loyalist community in the North who have an interest in Irish unity. Due to Brexit, there are significant changes happening.

In Stormont, Westminster and local elections, the number of nationalist votes is increasing year by year. It is in the long-term interest of the Government parties to contest future elections in the North of Ireland. This Bill is an historic opportunity. It is an opportunity to build a democratic country, North and South, and realise the objectives of many of the founding fathers of the Minister of State's political party. There are many debates around this issue. The key debate, however, is how it is just or moral that an Irish citizen one mile south of the Border can vote in a presidential election while an Irish citizen one mile north of the Border cannot vote in that same presidential election. This is a very simple Bill that does not remove any rights from any section or community in the North of Ireland. It is a Bill that adds. It is an additional human rights Bill. It is an additional democratic Bill for people in the North of Ireland.

When we talk about the North and presidential elections, many people say there are more important things at the moment, in terms of the cost-of-living crisis, housing and healthcare.

I would say "No", actually. There are urgent things in life and there are important things in life. There is an urgency to the cost-of-living crisis, to housing and to healthcare, but over the 100 years development of this country, it is in our national interest to be able to organise on an island basis. It is in our national interest in terms of developing a bigger economy and a more efficient public service. The Border is like a wall with 1,000 blocks. Each of those blocks is impeding development North and South, whether it is spatial development, healthcare development, such as an all-Ireland ambulance service, or educational development. Universities are working in some cases with their backs to each other. Incredibly, we are still spatially developing this country with our backs to each other and at a cost to each other.

People say there is an economic cost to all this. I say the people in Dundalk are just as hard-working as the people in Newry, the people in Dungannon are just as enterprising as the people in Monaghan and the people in Derry are just as hard-working as the people in Letterkenny. The key ingredient that is missing is self-determination: the ability of the Irish people to make decisions for ourselves for the betterment of this country.

Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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I appreciate the opportunity to contribute to the debate. I can confirm the Government will not oppose the motion and will continue to keep the matter of extending the right to vote in presidential elections to citizens overseas outside the State under review.

The story of emigration from our island is long and layered. For many years, the prevailing narrative rightly focused on the fact that economic challenges and social exclusion meant that, for many, emigration was seen as the only viable option. For others, particularly more recently, emigration was a choice made under more positive circumstances. In our work, we are fortunate to witness the role the diaspora plays in carrying Ireland’s voice and values around the world.

From talking to colleagues across the Oireachtas, two things stand out. First, there is hardly a town, village or community across Ireland that has not been impacted by emigration. Like many in the Chamber, I have direct experience of family and friends moving abroad and the strange gap that exists when someone who was always around is now in another country. Second, we all share a desire to deepen the ties between Ireland and the Irish abroad.

Earlier today, in line with the commitment made in the programme for Government, my colleague, the Minister of State with responsibility for international development and diaspora, Deputy Richmond, launched the Government’s new diaspora strategy. The launch was one of the highlights of the fourth Global Irish Civic Forum, which takes place in Croke Park today and tomorrow. The forum is an integral element of the Government’s engagement with Irish communities abroad. It has brought together 250 people from 21 countries for two days of networking and discussions on the challenges and opportunities facing the Irish abroad.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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It is not about "abroad". There is nothing in the Bill about being abroad or emigration or diaspora. It is purely the North of Ireland.

Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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When I was abroad, I had the opportunity to meet very active Irish communities in Sweden and Denmark. I am pleased Irish politicians get the opportunity to engage with so many Irish living across the world. Throughout 2025, the Minister of State, Deputy Richmond, led the most intensive consultation ever undertaken with the Irish abroad. The centrepiece of the process was a series of formal consultations led by Ministers in 27 cities across 17 countries, including Ireland. Just under 500 individuals attended these discussions, with over 250 organisations represented. In addition to the formal public consultations, the strategy was informed by engagements with a range of stakeholders from the Oireachtas, civil society, NGOs, community and cultural movements and groups, business networks and academic institutions at home and abroad.

The in-person consultations were supplemented by the Global Irish Survey, our first ever online survey of the Irish abroad. That consultation launched on 7 July 2025 and ran for seven weeks throughout the summer of 2025. Over 10,000 responses were received. The overall response to this open and expansive approach in person and online was very positive. In a changing and complex world, building an enduring relationship with the diaspora remains as significant as ever to our national identity. Our new strategy reflects the commitment of the Government to work with the diaspora on a new and unprecedented chapter in diaspora relations. There are 23 commitments and they focus directly on the challenges and opportunities identified by the Irish abroad during the consultation process. Given my portfolio, I welcome the commitment to open doors for those from under-represented groups to engage with Ireland.

I will deal with the substance of the Deputy's Bill, which is votes for citizens outside our jurisdiction. As I understand it, the Bill seeks to extend the presidential franchise to citizens resident in Northern Ireland. The issue of voting rights in Irish presidential elections was debated in the Northern Ireland Assembly last year. We have also been supportive of the work undertaken by the Convention on the Constitution. This matter is not without challenges. At an operational level, a number of implementation issues will have to be addressed, including the establishment of an online-based voter registration and the extension of postal voting.

Before that, we are all aware that extending the franchise will require constitutional change. It is important, as we have this discussion, that we do not underestimate the challenge constitutional change brings. In the course of the last Government we held two referendums and both were defeated. I believe in expanding the presidential franchise to all Irish citizens, regardless of where they live on this island or around the world, but to get to that point we have to win that debate. When you hold a referendum, you need to be, as we found out, in a position to win, and preferably to win strongly. If you do not, then the chance to extend the franchise will be lost for a generation.

When this debate arises, the Government is often accused of not supporting an extension because we would not like the result. Like all here this evening, I am a democrat, I was democratically elected and I would not support approaching the matter in an undemocratic way, but we have to be clear as to what is possible. Holding a referendum is a political decision that needs to be taken by the government of the day. I assure the Dáil that this Government is reflecting on this issue for that exact reason.

I have a number of speaking points in relation to deepening ties with the global Irish but I appreciate the Deputy's comments that he would like the debate to focus on the specifics of the Bill, which concern citizens resident on the island of Ireland. While those comments have been circulated, I will take the Deputy's feedback on board and leave it at that.

Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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Tacaím leis an mBille seo. Tá sé ag dul sa treo ceart. This Bill is going in the right direction and we will support it. Sinn Féin firmly believes in the core republican principle of equal citizenship and supports the right of all citizens of voting age to vote for the Irish President, regardless of their place of residence. The Good Friday Agreement states the Government recognises the right of all people born in the North to identify as Irish citizens if they wish. We should not treat them as second-class Irish citizens but as full Irish citizens with full voting rights. It is a dreadful exclusion that our citizens in the North are treated with such disdain that they cannot vote for the President of Ireland.

In September 2013, 73% of the members of the constitutional convention voted in favour of giving Irish citizens resident in the North a presidential vote. This was not the answer the sitting Fine Gael-Labour Government wanted and that Government missed deadlines in issuing responses to recommendations of the convention, refused to hold referendums on many of its recommendations and held an unsuccessful referendum on the future of the Seanad, without the support of the convention. The Government should have faced up to the democratic demands of that convention to end this disenfranchisement. Instead, it pretended it never happened, as governments always do when citizens' assemblies do not produce the result they want. We are still waiting for meaningful action on the report from the Citizens' Assembly on Drugs Use.

It fell to the Opposition to try to make real the change that the Assembly demanded. Gerry Adams and I introduced a Bill very similar to the one we are debating now in March 2014. It would have been the thirty-fourth amendment to the Constitution. Many referendums have come and gone, and still our Northern citizens are excluded. Our Bill would have granted the franchise to every citizen of Ireland without disqualification on the basis of place of residency. In this regard, I refer to many of the issues the Minister of State dealt with.

I would like to think that the President represents us all and that every citizen would have a say in the selection of their representative. While this Bill is narrower in scope than mine, it would be an important first step and a realisation that the Good Friday Agreement promised that all citizens would be equal. My Bill is still on the Order Paper and ready to go if the Government lends its support to it.

There is always talk of the legal and logistical challenges that come with change like this. However, are we really saying we cannot organise polling stations or a postal vote across the North? People queuing up outside embassies in Dublin in order that they can vote in elections back home is a regular sight, and not just in the case of presidential elections. Some countries, including South Africa, allow a special vote for all citizens abroad in their national elections. We act as if it would be the biggest logistical feat since the Berlin airlift. Ireland is, in fact, among a small minority of countries that do not allow non-resident citizens any sort of voting rights. One hundred and forty countries currently allow voting in at least some elections.

There is a broader discussion to be had in this State about the obstacles to voting. The difficulty in obtaining a postal vote is on that list, along with the poor quality of the electoral register. Let me quote the 2020 general election manifesto of Fine Gael:

We support extending the franchise at presidential elections to Irish citizens resident outside the State. This referendum will take place within the first year of Fine Gael being returned to Government. If passed, this will allow Irish citizens in Northern Ireland and around the world to vote in the next presidential election, in 2025.

These are the words of the Fine Gael Party. That was the commitment it made to the people, supposedly in exchange for their support. Fine Gael was returned to office, but there was no referendum.

The presidential election has come and gone. It is not as if Fine Gael did not have plenty of opportunity. Former Minister for foreign affairs Simon Coveney introduced a Bill in this area in 2019, with the referendum question already worded. The previous Government could have picked up where he left off, and no one in this House, bar, perhaps, the current Taoiseach, would have objected.

We cannot go on ignoring the right of all our citizens to have a say. We are reducing their citizenship to little more than a passport. Let us start with giving our Northern countrymen and countrywomen a vote for a President who represents all on our island.

Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Is Bille maith é seo agus táimid ag tacadh leis.

It is fair to say that this State has abjectly failed those in the North for many years. The issue we are dealing with is therefore the continuous failure over many years. It is also fair to say that primary responsibility for partition lies with Britain. Partition entailed the idea of Britain maintaining a foothold in Ireland, not so much facilitating Ulster unionists as using them – not for the first time and not for the last. We cannot forget the threat from David Lloyd George of “immediate and terrible war”. Obviously, that led to a really sad history. It broke many families, created a huge split in what had been the independence movement and eventually led to the creation of Cumann na nGaedheal, which later became Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil. I agree with what Deputy Tóibín said about the necessity for any parties here to organise in the North, but ours would have been a very different history had those parties organised in the North. This would have changed their mindset in relation to many events. Maybe we could have avoided much of what happened, down to the fact that the North became, for all the failings of this State, a sectarian state, a sectarian Orange state that maintained the supremacy of unionism over nationalism and treated Catholic nationalists, it is fair to say, like dirt. Unfortunately, the British Government and Governments down here did nothing to address this for 50 years, and that is what led to what was a community insurrection and, unfortunately, huge pain on all sides. We are a lot happier that we are in our current position. However, the only point of that is actually delivering on our citizens’ rights across this island.

We are talking about voting for Uachtarán na hÉireann. That is fairly straightforward. I refer to the idea that the Irish President would represent the Irish people. You would think that would include those in the Six Counties. The Minister of State’s former leader, Leo Varadkar, accepted that Northern nationalists had been failed for many years, so I would like to think a move could be made to address this issue.

Deputy Crowe spoke about the 2013 constitutional convention, and that should have been the impetus to take action. The Deputy spoke of the fact that he and Gerry Adams produced legislation in 2014. Unfortunately, none of these opportunities have been taken up. We failed to deliver for the last presidential election.

I accept some of what the Minister of State emphasised regarding the diaspora. Given our history of emigration and families torn asunder, we should do everything to ensure we engage those who have found themselves on far-flung shores. Unfortunately, some of our young people have had to leave because of issues with housing, childcare and all the other cost-of-living issues that unfortunately existed here long before the present cost-of-fuel crisis.

Deputy Crowe stated it quite clearly: we have all seen in news reports and elsewhere people queuing up outside embassies to vote in far-flung places, whether in parts of eastern Europe or elsewhere all over the world. In eastern Europe, people had a long history of not being able to vote. It cannot be impossible for us to facilitate voting, no more than it cannot be impossible to find a means by which we could facilitate those in the North to vote in a presidential election.

A much bigger body of work has to be done. The failure does not start and stop with presidential elections. In this Chamber, it should be possible to provide speaking time for those who represent citizens in the North, those who are elected in the North. It is vital that we bring their voice to this Chamber. The fact is that demographics are changing. There is a conversation happening across Ireland and there are significant sections, even within the Protestant unionist community, who now see Irish unity as a sensible option, including for reasons such as being part of the EU. Many were not very taken by the madness that took Britain and the North out of the EU, particularly when the majority in the North voted to stay in it. They have seen the chaos that has existed in Westminster for far too long.

We will rail about this Government and what it has failed to do, but I believe more and more people on this island realise that the best way to make decisions for the people of Ireland, North and South, is to make them here on the island. Too many times, we have seen how there are insufficient powers in the Executive and the Assembly when it comes to taxation and other very particular issues where powers are still maintained by Westminster. These are all issues that need to be addressed.

We need this Government to take the right steps. We are talking about Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael in government. Fianna Fáil would profess to be the republican party and the Minister of State's party professes to be the united Ireland party. I would like to see some action in that direction. The Taoiseach has set his mind against any moves on Irish unity. We all accept very much that good work has been done by the shared island unit and I think we all want to eventually see the necessary work done on the A5. All of us see Narrow Water Bridge as an example of a spectacular project connecting my constituency with County Down. We know that there will be huge benefits not only from the point of view of transport and connectivity, but also from a tourism point of view. However, we also have to make sure that we follow through on the conversations that are happening about constitutional change.

From my point of view, it is about removing the British presence from Ireland, but it will probably be a very different united Ireland than I would have thought when I was 17. We are talking about an agreed Ireland. It is an Ireland where we have to make space for unionism and for those who see themselves as British. There is an argument that there is an onus on all of us in a referendum to be able to sell the idea that life would be better for them and their children and that we can deal with the inadequacies across both states relating to health, education and ensuring the sustainability of the economy. It is as simple as that - that we can literally put together a roadmap to Irish unity that can provide for better lives so that we can cherish all the children of the nation equally. That is something that we should all espouse.

The problem is that the Taoiseach and the Government have stated that we have to wait on this perfect moment of utopia involving what the Taoiseach terms complete and utter reconciliation. Fine Gael's former leader Leo Varadkar said that if this had been the idea, the Good Friday Agreement would not have been agreed upon. It is nearly 30 years since the Good Friday Agreement and we are in a much better place.

When we are talking about giving citizens in the North the right to be able to vote in a presidential election, we are talking about the bare minimum. We need to see the preparatory work this State has the capacity to do actually being done. Even if people do not want to call it a citizens' assembly, we need some sort of forum where people can have a conversation about what Irish unity would look like and where they could deal with those particular issues and the worries that some people have. I do not see a British Government agreeing to a referendum date on Irish unity when you have an Irish Government that will not even ask the question. Rather than supporting this today and then letting it wither on the vine, we need to see movement. Regardless of whether it is Deputy Tóibín's legislation, Gerry Adams and Deputy Seán Crowe's legislation or the Government's, we need to see delivery. I have no problem with making sure that as many members of our diaspora as possible can vote but we must ensure that citizens from the North who live on this island can vote in a presidential election and then see real movement toward building the republic that many have died for over many generations. That is what we need to see. Go raigh maith go léir agus an phoblacht abú.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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I listened to the Minister of State's speech and looked at the hard copy of it here. The vast bulk of this speech - up to 75% to 80% of it - is about a topic that is not included in the Bill at all. There are a couple of reasons there is a significant problem with this. In the speech, the Minister of State mentioned emigration, overseas, the Irish abroad and the diaspora. This Bill has nothing to do with any of those people at all. They are a completely separate issue. I am not sure if this is a mistake or if it is purposeful and I will tell the House why. If someone goes to the Fine Gael website and clicks on the North of Ireland or if someone from the North of Ireland wants to join Fine Gael, it actually terms it "overseas members", so someone from Newry who wants to join Fine Gael must join as an overseas member. I mean no disrespect but I am not sure if the Minister of State wrote this. It would be better for her if she did not write this, to be honest, because this is not about the topic at hand, and if it is about the topic at hand, it is deeply disrespectful to Northern nationalists. Imagine someone from the North of Ireland listening to this - as many people are likely to be doing because this is a big issue in the Six Counties - and a Minister of State of the Government talking about overseas Irish, global Irish, diaspora Irish, emigrants, etc.,-----

Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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Deputy, I also spoke about votes for citizens in Northern Ireland.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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But I have the hard copy-----

Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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We had a back and forth about this. On a point of order-----

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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In fairness, if I stood up in the Minister of State's place, I would be ruled out of order very quickly.

Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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I would just like to raise a point of order. Am I entitled-----

John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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An Teachta Tóibín.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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I have the hard copy here and 75% of the speech is either an insult to Northern nationalists or is a mistake, and that is very problematic. The context of me saying this is the fact that the people of the North of Ireland have gone through very difficult times in the past 100 years - heart-breaking, devastating challenges over the past 100 years - but at the heart of the annoyance felt by Northern nationalists is the strong feeling that they have long been betrayed by the political establishment in the South of Ireland. There is a very strong belief running through people in the North of Ireland that in their time of need, there has never been or has seldom been solidarity from the South. There have seldom been efforts to really stand up for their interests and rights. That feeling of betrayal will be magnified in many ways by the words of the Minister of State on this.

The Minister of State stated that she and her Government were reflecting on this issue. Reflection is good. I am a fan of reflection but reflection has to have some time limit for when it is complete. The programme for Government in 2020 stated that this Government would introduce a Bill that would give voting rights to the people of the North of Ireland. We are six years later. The Government had already given the commitment and has not fulfilled that particular commitment. The citizens' assembly also voted by a majority that voting rights should be given to the people of the North of Ireland. On foot of the Aontú Bill tabled initially, Sinn Féin tabled a non-binding Bill in Stormont that was supported by the majority of MLAs. Opinion polls have shown that there is support for this. Maybe there is reflection but maybe there is reflection in an effort to be in a position of paralysis and not actually do anything about this.

Voting rights for the diaspora is a completely different project to voting rights in the North of Ireland. I am in favour of voting rights but with regard to saying that a person in Johannesburg should have the same right to vote as a person in Forkhill, that a person in Buenos Aires should have the same right to vote as a person in Belcoo or that a person in Shanghai should have the same right to vote as a person in Strabane, they are two completely different proposals and should not be lumped in together or even understood together.

To understand them together completely changes what it is to be an Irish citizen. The Constitution and the Good Friday Agreement state that a person, as in the Good Friday Agreement, has a right to be an Irish citizen. All I am saying is that because of that inherent right, it should be fulfilled in their rights to have a democratic franchise. That is what we are looking for with this.

I accept and agree with the Minister of State on a point and I do not want to be totally negative on this. I agree there is a challenge in the functionality of whatever election is held in the future in terms of making sure we register people in the North of Ireland properly and that we have a facility whereby people are able to cast their votes properly. However, that is a challenge that is surmounted by 140 countries around the world in facilitating voting in an election outside of the specific jurisdiction. It is nothing new and has been happening for well over 100 years in many different places and there is an opportunity there.

The Government also mentioned that reconciliation should happen before these decisions are taken and this is the mad thing. If I can have her attention for just a second, this is important. Reconciliation has happened pretty much 100% since partition in the South of Ireland. Most people who come from families who were unionists or loyalists in the South of Ireland are fully reconciled with the southern State. I do not know of anybody in the South who is from that original community and is not reconciled with their brothers and sisters, their neighbours or the State. In the North, it is the opposite. The Northern state has fossilised and petrified conflict. The Northern state, because it has been so wrong and unfair in how nationalists have been treated, has actually maintained the issues at the heart of the conflict and reconciliation is far more difficult in the North of Ireland. If you want to turbo-boost reconciliation, the way to do that is on an all-island basis. If you want to stop reconciliation happening, maintain the status quo. When Micheál Martin states reconciliation must happen before we enter upon this journey, his policy is to maintain the seeds of conflict in place and all the negativity that comes from that.

In another aspect to this issue, back in 2018 I was the rapporteur for the enterprise committee and I was given the task of carrying out the first report in Leinster House on the all-Ireland economy since partition. I interviewed about 100 people from all different backgrounds in the North of Ireland from different communities including Catholics, Protestants, trade unionists, business people, farmers, people in the public sector, etc., and one common thing in all those discussions was that if we plan together, fund together and deliver services together, they simply will be better services and will be more efficient and cheaper to deliver.

There is so much opportunity at the heart of the proposals we have for this particular Bill and for Irish unity. I am thinking of many of the Aontú representatives in the North of Ireland such as Gemma Brolly, a representative for us in East Derry, Liam Reichenberg in south Armagh, Roisín Mulgrew in Newry and all the people who represent Aontú in the North of Ireland. I am thinking of all the hard work they do on a daily basis to build positive relationships with their communities but also to further the objective of having a society that allows for equality among Irish citizens. The status quomakes one Irish citizen more equal than the others.

I urge the Government to see this as a legacy issue. The Minister of State could go through governance for the next few years and in 100 years' time, what does she think the people will think about her Government? In 100 years' time, if Government passes a Bill such as this, that will be the issue it will be remembered for. This is a legacy-type Bill. This is a Bill that transforms a country's ability to include everybody on the island of Ireland. This is a Bill of significance, up there with the extension of the franchise to women and the extension of the franchise to people in 1918. This is a Bill of significant magnitude and I urge the Government to take it from us and run with it. Please do not let it get blocked by intransigence on Committee Stage and allow citizens in the North to use the next election in six and a half years' time to be the first election since 1918 where they can participate in their democratic franchise as equal Irish citizens.

Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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The Government recognises that conversations on issues like this lead to more specific discussion and engagement, North and South, about constitutional change more broadly, as provided for under the Good Friday Agreement. That is why we are not opposing this Bill and why we want to have this debate in this Chamber. However, I do not appreciate some of the comments the Deputy has made in his remarks. These are extremely important issues and they naturally require very careful and serious consideration.

We have taken careful note of the reports published by the last Oireachtas on these issues. The full implementation and effective operation of the Good Friday Agreement is an absolute priority for this Government. In addition to the rights regarding identity, the principle of consent and the possibility of change in the constitutional status of Northern Ireland are fundamental elements of the Good Friday Agreement endorsed by the people of this island, the island of Ireland, both North and South. The approach of any Irish Government regarding Irish unity is guided by Article 3 of the Constitution, as amended by the people in 1998, as the Deputy will be aware.

The Government firmly respects and affirms everyone's right on the island to make the case for the constitutional future they wish to see, whether they are nationalist, unionist or neither. The Good Friday Agreement and the two sovereign Governments explicitly recognise and validate the legitimacy of views on these constitutional positions. Our focus through the shared island initiative is in working towards a shared future underpinned by the Good Friday Agreement. That approach is necessary, regardless of whatever shape, future or constitutional change may take on this island or between these groups.

I am talking about constitutional change because, as I mentioned in my opening remarks, the Bill would require constitutional change. The Deputy's Bill would require a referendum. The issue of voting rights in the Irish presidential elections, as I said earlier, was debated in the Northern Ireland Assembly last year and we have been supportive of the work undertaken by the Convention on the Constitution. This is not without its challenges and Deputies Crowe, Ó Murchú and Tóibín had specific queries and comments regarding those challenges I mentioned.

Ultimately, the issue of expanding the right to vote in presidential elections for Irish citizens resident outside of the State and those in Northern Ireland is a sensitive topic and requires thorough and respectful dialogue across this House. I commend Members this evening on their contributions and note that until recently, it was mature and constructive debate, which is a debate I want to engage in. On the specifics of this Bill, namely, expanding the franchise to Irish citizens in Northern Ireland, the Good Friday Agreement makes clear the people of Northern Ireland can, as we all appreciate and respect, identify as British, Irish or both. Article 2 of the Constitution, as amended, forms a key part of the agreement and ensures the entitlement and birthright of every person born on the island of Ireland to be part of the Irish nation.

This Government and all governments since 1998 have advocated for and defended that right, and we must do so as co-guarantors of the Good Friday Agreement and will continue to do so. However, the issue of extending the franchise for voting in presidential elections is not straightforward. The work undertaken by the Convention on the Constitution and voting rights and other matters was important, and the detailed 2017 options paper on the matter prepared by the Department of housing, planning, community and local government and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, considered a range of policy, legal and logistical matters that need consideration. As I said earlier, these include the register of electors and postal voting, for example. I am not saying it cannot be done; I am saying it requires careful thought and preparation, as well as securing a positive result in a referendum.

The Government is focused on what is attainable - the art of the possible. We want to hold a referendum that we can win. We believe that if you hold a referendum, you need to be in a position to win it. That is why it is imperative that we continue to maintain cross-party dialogue on this topic and that we continue to be respectful of people when it comes to it.

I wish to reassure the Dáil that the Government takes this matter seriously. We are not opposing this Bill for that reason. We are, as I said earlier, reflecting on it and on how best to work on it going forward.