Right of Irish expatriates to vote

Since the 1990s there have been proposals to allow emigrants to vote in elections to the Dáil (lower house) or Seanad, generally via a dedicated (single transferable vote multi-seat) constituency.Honohan 2011 p.14 of preprint Groups established by economic emigrants leaving the 1980s recession have advocated for change.{{cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/abroad/generation-emigration/why-it-is-finally-time-to-give-irish-emigrants-the-vote-1.2420289|title=Why it is finally time to give Irish emigrants the vote|last=Hickman|first=Mary|date=10 November 2015|newspaper=The Irish Times|access-date=24 April 2018}} A related issue is a proposed right of people in Northern Ireland to vote in the Republic.Oireachtas All-party committee on the Constitution p.40 Arguments in favour of expatriates voting include the economic and cultural importance of the Irish diaspora and the potential benefits of increasing its engagement with the state, and a moral debt owed to reluctant emigrants.Honohan 2011 pp.15–16 of preprint Arguments against include the possibility of the emigrant vote swamping residents, and that emigrants' views may conflict with residents'.Honohan 2011 p.16 of preprint Of 70 million nonresidents claiming Irish ancestry, 3 million have Irish citizenship including 1 million who have lived in Ireland. Most proposals would enfranchise only the subset of this 1 million who left Ireland a limited time before. The number is still large relative to a resident population (including children) of 4.8 million;{{cite web|url=http://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/er/pme/populationandmigrationestimatesapril2017/|title=Population and Migration Estimates|date=April 2017|publisher=Central Statistics Office|access-date=23 April 2018}} however, Iseult Honohan suggests that swamping could be prevented by making emigrants vote in a dedicated emigrants' constituency rather than in the constituency of their last Irish residence, so that expatriates would have lower apportionment than residents. The Irish government is responsible to the Dáil, so proposals to allow expatriates to vote for the Seanad or the figurehead office of President would provide symbolic inclusion without jeopardising government stability.

The Oireachtas (parliament) committee on the constitution considered the matter in 2002; it recommended no extension of the franchise, but that among the senators nominated by the Taoiseach (prime minister) should be "a person or persons with an awareness of emigrant issues".Oireachtas All-party committee on the Constitution p.59 In 2014, the Oireachtas joint committee on European Union (EU) affairs considered a European Commission communication on "the consequences of disenfranchisement of Union citizens exercising their right to free movement", and recommended that Irish citizens abroad should have the right to vote in Dáil elections.{{cite web|url=https://www.oireachtas.ie/parliament/media/committees/euaffairs/archiveeuaffairs/Final-Voting-Rights-report_07112014.pdf |title=Report on Voting Rights of Irish Citizens Abroad |author=Joint Committee on European Union Affairs|date=November 2014|publisher=Oireachtas|access-date=23 April 2018}}; {{cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/irish-emigrants-should-have-right-to-vote-report-says-1.1999308|title=Irish emigrants should have right to vote, report says|last=Kenny|first=Ciara|date=13 November 2014|newspaper=The Irish Times|access-date=23 April 2018}} In 2015, a report on reform of the Seanad commissioned by the Taoiseach Enda Kenny recommended that senators on vocational panels should be directly rather than indirectly elected, from an electorate extended "to Irish citizens in Northern Ireland and to holders of Irish passports living overseas".Working Group On Seanad Reform 2015, p.9

{{main|Thirty-ninth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2019}}

The Constitutional Convention in 2013 recommended allowing expatriate citizens to vote in presidential elections;{{cite web|url=https://www.constitution.ie/AttachmentDownload.ashx?mid=bf489ec7-9556-e311-8571-005056a32ee4|title=Fifth Report: Amending the Constitution to give citizens resident outside the State the right to vote in Presidential elections at Irish embassies, or otherwise|date=November 2013|publisher=Convention on the Constitution|access-date=23 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171106112520/https://www.constitution.ie/AttachmentDownload.ashx?mid=bf489ec7-9556-e311-8571-005056a32ee4|archive-date=6 November 2017}} In 2017 the government agreed to this, published a position paper listing seven options for eligibility criteria and associated implementation measures, and promised a constitutional referendum on whichever option it would select, to be held alongside the 2019 local election.{{cite press release |url=https://merrionstreet.ie/en/News-Room/Releases/Coveney_publishes_an_Options_Paper_on_extending_the_eligibility_for_citizens_resident_outside_the_State_to_vote_at_presidential_elections.html |title=Coveney publishes an Options Paper on extending the eligibility for citizens resident outside the State to vote at presidential elections |date=22 March 2017|work=MerrionStreet|publisher=Government of Ireland|access-date=23 April 2018}}; {{Cite press release |url=http://www.taoiseach.gov.ie/eng/News/Taoiseach's_Press_Releases/Announcement_by_the_Taoiseach_on_Voting_Rights_in_Presidential_Elections_for_Irish_Citizens_outside_the_State.html |title=Announcement by the Taoiseach on Voting Rights in Presidential Elections for Irish Citizens outside the State |last=Ruth |first=Maguire |publisher=Department of the Taoiseach |access-date=2017-03-23}}; {{cite web|url=https://www.kildarestreet.com/wrans/?id=2018-04-17a.4040#g4046.r|title=Postal Voting|date=17 April 2018|work=Written answers|publisher=KildareStreet.com|access-date=23 April 2018|quote=the proposed referendum on extending the franchise at presidential elections to Irish citizens resident outside the State which it is intended will be held on the same date as the local and European elections in late May/early June 2019}} In February 2019, the government decided that, due to the urgency of dealing with Brexit, the referendum would be postponed; it also agreed that the proposal would be "an extension of the franchise to all citizens resident outside the State, including citizens resident in Northern Ireland".{{cite web |last1=Phelan |first1=John Paul |author-link1=John Paul Phelan |title=Referendum Campaigns |url=https://www.kildarestreet.com/wrans/?id=2019-02-20a.80 |website=Written answers |publisher=KildareStreet.com |access-date=28 March 2019 |date=20 February 2019}} The resulting bill was introduced in the Dáil in September 2019.

The 2021 report of the Seanad committee on Brexit noted a democratic deficit created by the Northern Ireland Protocol, which leaves Northern Ireland subject to some EU rules despite no longer participating in EU decision-making. Among the mitigations suggested in the report was allowing Irish citizens resident in Northern Ireland to vote in elections to the European Parliament.{{multiref

|{{cite news |last1=McGreevy |first1=Ronan |title=Northern Ireland voters should be allowed to vote in European elections |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/northern-ireland-voters-should-be-allowed-to-vote-in-european-elections-1.4751605 |access-date=10 December 2021 |newspaper=The Irish Times |issue=9 December 2021 |language=en}}

|{{cite web |author1=Seanad Special Select Committee on the Withdrawal of the UK from the EU |title=Final Report on the Impacts of Brexit |publisher=Oireachtas |access-date=10 December 2021 |page=42, Recommendations 31 and 32 |date=9 December 2021 |url=https://data.oireachtas.ie/ie/oireachtas/committee/dail/33/seanad_special_committee_on_the_withdrawal_of_the_united_kingdom_from_the_european_union/reports/2021/2021-12-09_final-report-on-the-impacts-of-brexit_en.pdf#page=44 }}

}}

• {{cite book |author=Oireachtas All-party committee on the Constitution |title=Seventh Progress Report: Parliament |url=https://www.constitution.ie/Documents/Oireachtas%207th-Report-Parliament%202002.pdf#pages=40 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131020173339/https://www.constitution.ie/Documents/Oireachtas%207th-Report-Parliament%202002.pdf#pages=40 |url-status=dead |archive-date=2013-10-20 |format=PDF |year=2002 |pages=40–59 |chapter=Chapter 4: Northern Ireland and emigrant participation in national political life}}
• {{cite journal|last=Honohan|first=Iseult|year=2011|title=Should Irish Emigrants have Votes? External Voting in Ireland|journal=Irish Political Studies|volume=26|issue=4|pages=545–561 |issn=0790-7184|doi=10.1080/07907184.2011.619749|url=http://irserver.ucd.ie/bitstream/handle/10197/4346/Honohan_Irish_emigrants_voting_pre-print.pdf |hdl=10197/4346|hdl-access=free}}
• {{cite web |url=https://www.taoiseach.gov.ie/eng/Work_Of_The_Department/Protocol/Working_Group_on_Seanad_Reform/FINAL_Seanad_Reform_web_version.pdf |title=Report |author=Working Group On Seanad Reform |year=2015 |access-date=23 April 2018 |publisher=Department of the Taoiseach}}

{{reflist}}

• History of the franchise in Ireland

Irish

Expatriates

Vote