Various proposals have been considered since the 1980s to extend the franchise in Irish presidential elections to citizens resident outside the state. In 2019, the then government introduced a bill to amend the constitution to facilitate this extension. The bill lapsed in January 2020 when the 32nd Dáil was dissolved for the 2020 general election, but was restored to the order paper in July 2020.

At present, the only nonresident voting rights in Ireland are for university constituencies in Seanad Éireann and certain public servants posted abroad.

At present, Article 12.2.2º of the Constitution of Ireland reads:

Every citizen who has the right to vote at an election for members of Dáil Éireann shall have the right to vote at an election for President.

Dáil Éireann is the lower house of the Oireachtas (parliament) and Article 16.1.2º of the Constitution states:

iAll citizens, and
iisuch other persons in the State as may be determined by law,
without distinction of sex who have reached the age of eighteen years who are not disqualified by law and comply with the provisions of the law relating to the election of members of Dáil Éireann, shall have the right to vote at an election for members of Dáil Éireann.

The relevant law is section 8 of the Electoral Act 1992, which provides that, to be eligible for the electoral register for a given Dáil constituency, one must be:

  • ordinarily resident in the constituency
  • at least 18 years old
  • either an Irish citizen, a British citizen, or a citizen of another EU country specified by ministerial order. The last provision allows for reciprocal agreements where Irish citizens resident in another EU country are allowed to vote in that country's legislative elections. As of 2020 no such agreement or ministerial order has been made.[1]

The Electoral Act 1992 is an ordinary act of the Oireachtas which can be amended by a subsequent act of the Oireachtas; the Constitution can be amended by act of the Oireachtas but subject to approval of the electorate at a referendum. Ministerial orders are secondary legislation which the Oireachtas need not approve. It would be possible to give nonresidents the vote in both Dáil and Presidential elections by amending the 1992 act, but limiting the nonresident franchise to Presidential elections would require a constitutional amendment.[2]

Political background

The Irish diaspora is large and the question of voting rights for emigrants and other expatriates has arisen continually since the 1980s. The Oireachtas 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 should be "a person or persons with an awareness of emigrant issues".[3]

Constitutional Convention

The Constitutional Convention established in 2012 was directed to report on several issues, including "giving citizens resident outside the State the right to vote in Presidential elections at Irish embassies, or otherwise".[4] It considered the matter at its plenary meeting on 28–29 September 2013 and recommended allowing expatriate citizens to vote. It made some more detailed discussions, voting as follows:

  • Should citizens resident outside the State have the right to vote in Presidential elections? Yes 78–21 No
  • Should citizens resident in Northern Ireland have the right to vote in Presidential elections? Yes 73–20 No

Restrictions:

RestrictionPercentage
All Irish citizens resident outside the island of Ireland36
Just citizens who have lived in Republic of Ireland26
Just citizens who have lived in Republic of Ireland as adults within the last...
… (number of years)510152025No limit
Percentage 1417206438
 27
Undecided/No opinion11

Government response

Although the Fine Gael–Labour coalition government was supposed to give an official response in the Dáil within four months of receiving the Convention's report, it was not until January 2016 that Ann Phelan said it was "committed to undertaking … analysis" of the "complex and inter-related issues" involved in the recommendation.[5] It had already responded in March 2015 to a European Commission communication on "the consequences of disenfranchisement of Union citizens exercising their right to free movement", saying "policy, legal and practical issues" on diaspora voting should be considered by the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Minister of State with responsibility for diaspora affairs;[6][7] in October 2015, Paudie Coffey said this work had begun.[8]

In 2017 the government formed after the 2016 election accepted the Convention's 2013 recommendation, 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 in May 2019 alongside the local elections.[9][10] The seven options were:[9]

  1. All citizens resident outside the State;
  2. All citizens on the island of Ireland, and all citizens outside the island of Ireland for a period of time who have lived in the State;
  3. All citizens on the island of Ireland, and all citizens who have left the island in the previous 15 or 20 years;
  4. All citizens on the island of Ireland, and all citizens resident outside the island of Ireland who hold a valid Irish passport;
  5. All citizens resident outside the State who were previously registered to vote in the State;
  6. Citizens resident outside the State who were born on the island of Ireland; or
  7. All citizens on the island and all citizens resident outside the island of Ireland who were born on the island or who have lived on the island for at least one year.

2019 bill

In February 2019, the government decided that, due to the urgency of dealing with Brexit, the referendum would be postponed until October; 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".[11] The text of the bill was agreed by the cabinet on 11 June,[12] and the Thirty-ninth Amendment of the Constitution (Presidential Elections) Bill 2019 (bill no. 68 of 2019) was introduced in the Dáil by the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Simon Coveney on 16 September 2019.

The bill proposed to amend the constitution in three places:

  1. in Article 12.3.2º, the qualification for voting in Presidential elections would change
    • from "Every citizen who has the right to vote at an election for members of Dáil Éireann"
    • to "All citizens without distinction of sex who have reached the age of eighteen years who are not disqualified by law and comply with the provisions of the law relating to elections for the office of President"
  2. in Article 12.3.3º, the window for organising Presidential elections to would be increased from 60 to 90 days, to allow for the longer time to process ballots from abroad.
  3. a transitory Article 12A would be inserted to delay the effect of the Article 12.3 changes until 1 January 2025. This gives enough time to amend the Electoral Act 1992 to "regulate the detail and practical implementation of an extended franchise".[13] Incumbent Michael D. Higgins' seven-year term expires on 10 November 2025, after the Article 12A cutoff date. Conversely, the new nonresident franchise would not apply to an early election for a vacancy caused by the President's death, resignation or removal from office.

Irish constitutional amendments require a referendum. The required Referendum Commission was established on 26 September, chaired by High Court judge David Barniville.[14]

The 2019 bill lapsed with the dissolution of the 32nd Dáil on 14 January 2020, prior to the general election on 8 February. The election manifestos of Fine Gael[15] and Sinn Féin[16] supported nonresident voting in Presidential elections. It was restored to the order paper in July 2020.[17]

References

Sources

Citations

  1. ↑ "Written answers: Electoral Reform". KildareStreet.com. 14 October 2014. Retrieved 23 March 2020.; "General elections". Citizens Information. 7 February 2020. Retrieved 23 March 2020.
  2. ↑ Lynch 2019 p.5
  3. ↑ Oireachtas All-party Committee on the Constitution p.59
  4. ↑ "Constitutional Convention: Motion". Dáil Éireann (31st Dáil) debates. Houses of the Oireachtas. 10 July 2012. Retrieved 28 March 2019.
  5. ↑ "Convention on the Constitution Final Reports: Statements". Dáil Éireann debates. 14 January 2016. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
  6. ↑ Kenny, Enda (9 June 2015). "Constitutional Convention Recommendations (Continued)". Dáil Éireann debates. Retrieved 27 November 2015.
  7. ↑ "Minister Deenihan address to the Seanad on Global Irish: Ireland's Diaspora Policy". MerrionStreet.ie. Government of Ireland. 10 March 2015. Retrieved 27 November 2015. But we cannot ignore the fact that this is not straightforward and there are a number of policy, legal and practical issues that have to be thoroughly considered. The Government has asked Minister Kelly in cooperation with Minister Flanagan and myself to analyse these issues and report back to Government and that is what we will do.
  8. ↑ "Report of the Joint Committee on European Union Affairs on Voting Rights of Irish Citizens Abroad: Motion (Continued)". Dáil Éireann debates. Oireachtas. 23 October 2015. Retrieved 27 November 2015.
  9. 1 2 "Coveney publishes an Options Paper on extending the eligibility for citizens resident outside the State to vote at presidential elections". MerrionStreet (Press release). Government of Ireland. 22 March 2017. Retrieved 23 April 2018.
  10. ↑ Ruth, Maguire. "Announcement by the Taoiseach on Voting Rights in Presidential Elections for Irish Citizens outside the State" (Press release). Department of the Taoiseach. Retrieved 23 March 2017.; "Postal Voting". Written answers. KildareStreet.com. 17 April 2018. Retrieved 23 April 2018. 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
  11. ↑ Phelan, John Paul (20 February 2019). "Referendum Campaigns". Written answers. KildareStreet.com. Retrieved 28 March 2019.
  12. ↑ McNeice, Stephen (11 June 2019). "Cabinet approves plan for referendum on Irish citizens abroad voting in presidential elections". Newstalk. Retrieved 10 October 2019.
  13. ↑ Thirty-ninth Amendment of the Constitution (Presidential Elections) Bill 2019, explanatory memorandum
  14. ↑ "Referendum Commission (Establishment) (No.2) Order 2019". Irish Statute Book. 26 September 2019. Retrieved 10 October 2019.; Quann, Jack (26 September 2019). "Government sets up referendum commission for presidential elections". Newstalk. Retrieved 10 October 2019.
  15. ↑ "A future to Look Forward to: Building the Republic of Opportunity" (PDF). Fine Gael. January 2020. p. 101. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  16. ↑ "Giving workers & families a break: A Manifesto for Change" (PDF). Sinn Féin. p. 97. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  17. ↑ "Restoration of Bills to Order Paper: Motion – Dáil Éireann (33rd Dáil) – Tuesday, 28 July 2020". Oireachtas. Retrieved 6 August 2020.
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