Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

1584. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the measures he has taken to address the report by the EU Commission in January 2014 that Ireland was disenfranchising Irish citizens living in other EU member states from voting in elections; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19772/19]

John Paul Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Under Part II of the Electoral Act 1992, every person is entitled to be entered on the register of electors if that person:

- has reached the age of 18 years, and

- is ordinarily resident in a constituency in the State.

Subject to the age and residency requirements, a registered elector’s citizenship then determines the polls at which he or she is entitled to vote. Irish citizens alone are entitled to vote at all elections (i.e. local, European, Dáil, and presidential) and at referendums. Citizens of other Member States of the European Union may vote at European Parliament and local elections. British citizens are also eligible to vote at Dáil elections. Non-EU citizens may vote at local elections only.

In addition, Irish citizens who are resident in Member States of the European Union other than the State are entitled to vote at, and/or stand as candidates in, local and European elections held in those Member States under the same conditions that apply to the citizens of those Member States.

However, subject to a limited number of exceptions, Irish citizens resident outside the State do not have the right to vote at elections or at referendums held in the State. To provide for such an extended franchise at Dáil and at presidential elections as well as at referendums would require Constitutional amendment.

In this context and in response to the evolving needs of Irish society and its relationship with the wider Irish diaspora, the Government agreed in March 2017 to accept in principle the main recommendation in the Fifth Report of the Convention on the Constitution that Irish citizens resident outside the State, including citizens resident in Northern Ireland, should have the right to vote at presidential elections and that a referendum would be held to seek to amend the Constitution to give effect to this. The extension of voting rights at other elections to Irish citizens resident outside the State is not under consideration at this point in time.

In order to inform public discourse on this significant policy change, an was published on 22 March 2017 by my Department and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. The Options Paper sets out a broad range of options for the extension of voting rights, international comparisons, the estimated costs involved and related resource issues as well as many of the legal, policy, administrative and logistical challenges associated with extending voting rights to Irish citizens resident outside the State. These options provided a basis for the discussion on voting rights which took place at the Global Irish Civic Forum in Dublin on 5 May 2017.

More recently, the Government agreed on 5 February 2019 that, subject to the timely passage of a Constitution Amendment Bill by each House of the Oireachtas, the proposed referendum on extending the franchise at presidential elections would be held in October 2019. The Government also agreed that the preferred option to be put to the people in a referendum is for an extension of the franchise to all citizens resident outside the State, including citizens resident in Northern Ireland. This will inform the development of a Constitution Amendment Bill in good time for the holding of a referendum in October 2019.