Frances Black (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the Seanad. I support the motion. Ireland lacks a modern absentee ballot process and lags behind nearly every nation in the EU when it comes to giving its emigrant citizens the right to vote. Indeed, the Republic lags behind the vast majority of nations in the world, some 125 of which have already established an absentee ballot process for citizens. Emigrants immediately become second-class citizens the moment they leave the departure lounge at any Irish airport or port. A European Commission report of 2014 criticised Ireland for disenfranchising those citizens who live abroad. The Taoiseach must fulfil his Constitutional Convention promise and hold a referendum to give Irish citizens living abroad the right to vote for the next President of Ireland in 2019.

My father was born in the Six Counties but always considered himself as Irish as anyone else on the island. He was sad that he was unable to vote while living in the North but could vote when he settled in Dublin. Voting rights must be extended to Irish citizens in the North as soon as possible. I support fully the right of all Irish citizens of voting age to vote for the Irish President regardless of where they live. It is ironic that someone from the North can become President of Ireland but cannot vote in the election. Irish citizens living in the Six Counties cannot do so. The Good Friday Agreement states that the Government recognises the right of all people born in the North to identify as Irish citizens if they so wish. We should not treat those people as second-class citizens. We should encourage people from all political backgrounds on the island to engage in the political process. In this way, we will build an island on which everybody is equal. We must ask why there is a such a reluctance to extend voting rights to Irish citizens living in the Six Counties. All political parties should establish a presence in the North, which would help to eradicate the partitionist nature of our politics and show our citizens in the North that we consider them worthy of equal treatment and equal representation.

In September 2013, 78% of the members of the Constitutional Convention voted in favour of giving citizens resident abroad a vote in presidential elections. The Convention members voted 73% in favour of giving such a vote to Irish citizens resident in the North. We need to end the practice of depriving Irish people of the right to influence their destinies and ours.We need to end the practice of depriving Irish people of the right to influence their destiny and our destiny. Do we fear Irish citizens who live abroad or in the North? Northern nationalists are philosophically and emotionally part of the Irish nation. It is in their DNA. They deeply resent partition and constantly seek practical ways in which their national identity is affirmed. What better way to affirm it than by being able to vote for the Irish President. It would also be good to see Northern Unionists, who are reportedly applying for Irish citizenship in ever-greater numbers after the Brexit vote, exercising their right to vote for an Irish President. The decision of the Constitutional Convention is a clear indication that the people of the South support people from the North voting in presidential elections. The extension of voting rights in presidential elections to Irish citizens living in the North must be done as soon as possible.