Counting day for Irish new President

Irish citizens living in the North did not have a vote in this election. But this could be the last elections where they actually could not vote.

Counting has just begun in Ireland to elect the next President of the Republic.

Irish citizens living in the North did not have a vote in this election. But this could be the last elections where they actually could not vote.

Next May there will be an opportunity to change this. On May 24th, the same date as the EU and local government elections in the south, a referendum will be held on extending the vote in presidential elections.

Sinn Féin has consistently argued for Irish citizens in the North and those who in live in the diaspora to have a say in the life of the nation, including the right of northern representatives to speak in the Oireachtas.

When the Republican party raised it during the Good Friday Agreement negotiations the then Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, committed to facilitate this.

However, in 2006 the Fianna Fáil government reneged on this commitment.

In 2011 the newly Fine Gael/Labour government agreed to establish a Constitutional Convention to recommend constitutional reform. Sinn Féin made a detailed submission including the proposition that Irish citizens in the North and the Irish diaspora should have the right to vote in Presidential elections.

Two years later in September 2013 the Constitutional Convention heard evidence on this from academic and legal experts. The views of representatives of Irish communities living in the USA, Britain, Canada, Australia and elsewhere around the world, were also heard via a live video link-up.

Many speakers took the view that the opportunity for unionists to vote for an Irish President – if they choose to – was a positive way of engaging with unionists. It is also a natural extension of the Good Friday Agreement.

78% said yes to citizens’ resident outside the State having the right to vote in a Presidential election. When specifically asked about citizens resident in the north 73% said yes.

It has taken five years of constant lobbying to get to get a date for this referendum. In May the Taoiseach said that: “Following through on a Citizens’ Assembly proposal, we will have a referendum next year on extending the right to vote in presidential elections to all Irish citizens, including those living in the North and across the world …”

While waiting to know the results of this election, Sinn Fein and other parties are already working for the new challenge.

The date is set:  24 May 2019.