Give emigrants right to vote

Our citizens abroad deserve to have their say, says Senator Mark Daly

IRELAND has now assumed the presidency of the EU so it should come as no surprise that we find ourselves ready and willing to talk about jobs and economic growth but not a word will be said about Ireland’s dismal record when it comes to voting rights for her own citizens. Ireland does not allow the 800,000 Irish citizens living overseas or in Northern Ireland the right to vote. The real scandal is that we accept as a given this peculiar system of citizenship that distorts the very meaning of the Republic.

Ireland is not only bankrupted economically but we are a Third World nation when it comes to sustaining democracy. It is more than ironic that former president Mary McAleese, whose allegiance to Ireland is unquestionable, was denied the right to vote for so many years because she was born and lived in Belfast.

It is also ironic that 184 years after Daniel O’Connell, the Great Emancipator, secured the right to vote for Catholics, 95 years after the franchise was extended to women and over 45 years after nationalists marched in Derry for ‘One Man One Vote’ that Ireland continues to disenfranchise 2.6m people who are entitled to be citizens. This number includes those 1.8m living in Northern Ireland and those who are Irish passport holders living overseas (800,000). This figure constitutes 36% of all those who are entitled to be citizens of the Republic.

Consider the facts. Only four out of the 33 members in the Council of Europe do not afford their citizens living abroad the right to participate in elections at home. In contrast, over 115 of the 196 nations in the world have enfranchised their citizens living abroad. Many nations that deny the vote are either military dictatorships or nations where elections are neither free nor fair.

The record shows that for every two people born in Ireland one emigrated. Compared to the domestic population of 4.6m in the Republic, Ireland has the largest diaspora in the world relative to its domestic population, standing at 70m people of Irish heritage of which 800,000 hold Irish passports — a number that is just below the combined total of those living in the cities of Dublin, Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford.

By virtue of Articles 2 and 3 of the Constitution anyone of the 1.8m people born in the North is entitled to Irish citizenship. But can they vote? Surely not because they live in Newry, Derry and Belfast and their votes might actually change the political landscape for the better?

The Constitutional Convention which will soon be debating the extension of the right to vote to citizens outside the State in presidential elections is taking a step in the right direction. However, allowing a third of our citizens the right to vote only once every seven years (or five years depending on the outcome of the deliberations of the conventions) is too small a step.

In other countries, citizens living abroad are generally less directly or continuously concerned with or affected by the day-to-day problems of a country. This is not the case in Ireland where the 46,500 citizens who emigrated in 2012 would argue that they had to leave because the economic and political system failed them. Yet we deny them the most basic form of democratic engagement.

The reality is that we are perfectly accepting of a one-sided relationship with the diaspora. Gabriel Byrne was making this point very recently — we want the remittances, the investments and all the tourist dollars we can get from The Gathering, but we are unwilling to give much in return. A vote, surely not!

WE are at a point in time when Ireland must mature and fulfil the democratic aspirations of all of our citizens. As a first step we must allow all Irish citizens the right to vote in our presidential elections including Irish citizens in Northern Ireland. Second, we should follow the example of our European colleagues and allow citizens living abroad some form of parliamentary representation. Portugal, for example, where 20% of the electorate live overseas, allows its citizens living abroad to vote in the Assembly of the Republic elections. However, these voters are confined to voting for just 4 of the 230 seats.

Tourism minister Leo Varadkar made a proposal to extend the franchise to the Irish overseas, but we need many more leaders to step forward to speak on their behalf. However the political establishment is unlikely to allow those 2.6m people living outside the State to decide the outcome of Dáil seats and thus the Government.

In the French Senate there are 12 senators elected to represent French nationals living abroad.

In an Irish context a reformed Irish Senate is one possible and practicable option that would ensure that Irish citizens who live abroad and in Northern Ireland have a voice in Leinster House.

The new proposal ‘Open it Don’t Close it’ by Michael McDowell, Joe O’Toole, Noel Wheelan and Senators Zappone and Quinn suggest measures to transform Seanad Éireann without the need for constitutional amendment. This proposal states that “electors not resident in the state and/or specially those resident in Northern Ireland to be entitled to vote for some or all of the seats on some or all of the panels”.

Ireland is economically bankrupt, but we also have a democratic deficit as well that we must address. We also need to acknowledge the bankruptcy of our democracy. If we are to strengthen our Republic for the long term we must couple economic reform with voting rights reform.

* Senator Mark Daly is the first spokesperson for the Irish overseas and the diaspora