Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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639. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the position regarding the recommendation from the Constitutional Convention on voting rights in presidential elections for citizens outside the State; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12774/15]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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The Convention on the Constitution recommended that citizens resident outside the State should have the right to vote in Presidential elections. In considering a response to this recommendation the Government decided that it would be necessary to analyse the full range of issue that would arise in any significant extension of the franchise, before any decision could be made on the holding of a referendum. In ‘Global Irish – Ireland’s Diaspora Policy’, launched on 3 March 2015, the Government acknowledged that such an extension of the franchise would be welcomed by many in the diaspora. However, the Government also acknowledged that it would be challenging to introduce and to manage, and that a range of issues would arise for analysis in that context, including policy, legal and practical issues. I will be undertaking the necessary analysis in co-operation with the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Minister for Diaspora Affairs.