Ireland out of step on voting rights
The issue of whether the Irish Diaspora should be given the vote is back on the agenda. But what rights do emigrant citizens of other countries have in electing their Government back home? MALCOLM ROGERS examines the facts.
Irish people who were forced to leave their homeland because of a failure of
the State to supply them with work or even a subsistence living have never had a say in the affairs of their country. This is in stark contrast to most other democracies.
But at long last there may be a chance that Irish people living outside Ireland could be given an opportunity to take part in the democratic process.
Several models to clear up this obvious and glaring deficit in the democratic process have been suggested, but so far nothing has been decided.
Derry Sinn Féin councillor Gerry McLochlainn — formerly co-ordinator with the Irish Pensioners Group in north London — told the Irish Post: “The challenge for the Irish Government is to find a way to extend the democratic franchise to those people who were forced through no fault of their own to leave Ireland.”
These democratic rights could be extended in a variety of ways — either through direct involvement in elections to Dáil Éireann, voting for Seanad Éireann (the Senate House) or through participation in the Presidential election every seven years.
The simplest option — and one taken by most other mature democracies — is direct voting to Dáil Éireann.
But this seems an unlikely option at this juncture.
As former Taoiseach John Bruton said: “I don’t think that realistically any government is going to allow emigrants to vote in Dáil Éireann.
“If you take somewhere like Leitrim there’s probably more Leitrim people living outside Ireland than living in the county. So I don’t think the taxpayers of Leitrim would take kindly to them being given a say in the running of the county.”
Which may or may not be true, but it’s a risk the current Irish Government isn’t prepared to take.
They instead favour the principle that the Government should select people because of their awareness of the issues affecting emigrants.
But the stance conflicts with most other European nations — who allow their citizens a vote no matter where they reside.
Opposition parties in the Dáil including Fine Gael, Labour and Sinn Féin favour directly represented Senators to represent the Diaspora — possibly extending to emigrants being granted a vote in the Presidential election.
John Bruton’s proposal is that emigrants be allowed to directly elect three senators to Seanad Éireann.
One representative would come from each of the main concentrations of Irish residence — America, Britain and Australia.
Those being allowed to vote would have to have been on the electoral roll in Ireland before emigrating.
However this proposal falls short of what other nations offer their citizens.
BRITAIN
According to the Electoral Commission in London, if you are a British National living overseas you are entitled to vote in UK General Elections and European Union Elections for up to 15 years after moving abroad. Overseas electors cannot vote at local government level. Their votes count in the last constituencies in which they were registered.
ITALY
If you’re an Italian national and you live abroad you always have a vote — this applies to all referenda or votes for the lower house, the Parlamento. You don’t, however have a vote in local elections, for instance for the local Mayor etc. Until last year you could only cast this vote by travelling back to Italy — however, according to the Italian embassy in Dublin, last year this was changed and Italians the world over can vote by post for deputies to be returned to the legislature in Rome.
FRANCE
All French passport holders, wherever they’re domiciled in the world, can vote in the presidential or European elections and in referenda, no matter how long they have left the country.
If they want to vote for a deputy to be elected to the main legislature, L’Assemblée Nationale (corresponding to our Dáil Éireann or the House of Commons) you must register at an embassy and prove you still have family connections in your voting constituency.
A spokesman at the French Embassy in Dublin said, “It’s no big deal. Over the years it has been shown that the emigrant vote has no influence on the final outcome. So both sides gain — the emigrants are given a link with the old country, and France benefits from their intellectual input. But the government is still decided, in essence, by the taxpayers of France.”
SPAIN
All Spanish nationals, no matter where they are resident in the world, can vote in the national or European elections, according to the Ministerio del Exterior in Madrid. A spokeswoman told the Irish Post, “All you need to do is register with an embassy or consulate in the country in which you are resident, and your vote counts in the last constituency where your main residence was.”
SWEDEN
All Swedish passport holders can vote in referenda, European elections or to the national parliament, the Riksdagen, no matter where they live.
A spokeswoman at the Swedish Embassy in Dublin said, “You can either vote at an embassy or by post. The only elections you can’t vote in if you are resident overseas are the Swedish local elections — which would correspond to local councils in Ireland or Britain. Otherwise, every Swedish person has full democratic rights.”
USA
According to the official United States Embassy website, “generally, all U.S. citizens 18 years or older who are or will be residing outside the United States during an election period are eligible to vote by absentee ballot in any election for Federal office.”
This would mean elections for the President, Congress or Senate. This applies even if the US citizen doesn’t maintain an address or residence in the U.S.
Their legal state of residence for voting purposes is the state or territory where they last resided immediately prior to their departure from the United States, even though they may not have property or other ties in there, and their intent to return to that state or territory in the future may be uncertain.
ISRAEL
Israel, in terms of having millions of people living worldwide who have links with the country, is the State which most resembles Ireland in demographic terms.
Significantly, it is in the same boat as Ireland as regards voting rights.
According to the press office of the Israeli Embassy in Dublin, there are no provisions for Israeli passport holders living outside the country to vote in any Israeli election. In this, it is almost identical to Ireland.
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