This afternoon.
Leinster House, Kildare Street, Dublin 2
Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams joins protestors aclling for Presidential voting rights to be extended to Northern Citizens and the Irish diaspora.
Mr Adams was joined by representatives from four northern councils, which recently passed motions calling for the extension of Presidential voting rights.
Pause.
FIGHT!
RollingNews
Sponsored Link
I’d generally say no representation without taxation, but given the President’s limited role this seems reasonable. Maybe a seat in the Seanad too (but no rights for emigrants in the Dáil).
A seat in the Dail for people who’ve left Ireland in the last 5 years makes a hell of a lot more sense than votes for the president or Senate seats for people who may never have set foot in the country.
Soooo… people who don’t live in this jurisdiction should have the right to vote for our President, who can veto legislation? Nope-di-nope-nope.
…veto legislation…hahaha…Squee is supposed to be the most radical and outspoken president ever yet he signed off on the water legislation without acknowledging that it represented one of the most divisive pieces of legislation ever…he did so with undue haste like the good labour party factotem he is…
He can’t veto legislation, that’s not in his powers.
too much West Wing says he can, and he also has them nuclear launch thingies
There are a lot of resident voters in Ireland already who pay no tax on their income……
…yeah…like Bono, Denis….
Gerry aiming for retirement in the áras once he relinquishes the reigns of SF.
Bingo! We have a winner.
A fitting partial retirement for a great stateman and patriot. Pass the sick bag.
His cult of personality demands it
No.
Just no.
We won’t have Martin McGuinness as president of our Republic on the backs of voters not living in that Republic.
It won’t be wee Mortin. It’ll be Dear Leader Jarry!
Gerry Adams looking for yet another pension
You’ve hit the nail on the head there. All the Irish/Americans would love Adams in the Aras
I vote to stuff Jarry up the aras.
No. Just no. They are citizens of Northern Ireland. It’s still a separate country. A separate jurisdiction. Stop being silly, Gerry!
Do we “Free Staters” get a vote for their Assembly in return?
We have the same voting rights for their head of state as they have.
No.
If someone left the country decades ago. has taken up citizenship there and does not have to live with the consequences of their vote then I don’t think they should be able to vote.
Decades ago, fair enough.
But a flat-put denial of political representation to any emigrants actually means politicians “not having to live with the consequences” of continually shovelling the young of the country onto boats when the going gets tough. There is ZERO downside to mass emigration to Irish governments, because the minute you’re gone, you’re gone. One in size people born in Ireland no longer live in Ireland. Most other countries that would be seen as a crisis.
*six, not size!
+1.
People become undeniably more patriotic when abroad regardless of feelings when at home, Sinn Féin would be in power in a second as they have cornered that market – that is probably the largest motivation behind denying citizens living abroad a vote….Sinn Féins on the Planes!
Your comment makes no sense.
Why would genuinely patriotic people support the people protecting murderers of Irish public servants?
I agree with you DubLoony, I left Ireland in 1987 and don’t see any reason why I should have a say in who the President of Ireland should be. Plus frankly it seems like tokenism, whats the point?
A vote for everyone who’s emigrated from Ireland? What’s the time limit otherwise there could be 40 million votes to be counted. Given our current manual election counting system, the term of Presidency would be well passed by the time we’d hear a result.
no
Only when we get to vote for their next monarch!
And if we extended the presidency to all Ireland, would s/he then need to use “Ireland’s Call” as his anthem?
Jaysee, could you imagine a Nordie as president? Or a Prod?
ummmmm, i think you may have missed the last 20 years
Douglas Hyde. Mary McAleese.
you forgot Erskine Childers.
what, like Douglas Hyde?
Odd request.
Higgins doesn’t represent me, and I have a vote. He’s an embarrassment. Why Nordies would want to vote in that farcical setup beats me.
“Higgins doesn’t represent me, and I have a vote.”
– sometimes the person you would have wanted doesn’t get in; that’s democracy
No.
NO
Can people in wales vote?
As they are in the U.K. too like.
…ask Dan Boyle…he voted in Wales this year in the UK general election and the Brexit referendum despite drawing a Seanad pension here…
Fupp off Jarry.
He needs the Norn Iron vote to guarantee his presidency and Jarry would never stomach a defeat.
Deflecting from (add any number of issues here)
Great idea. A president for all of us.
Give a vote to people who’ve emigrated within the current election cycle (ie less than 5 years ago). You get no more than one ‘exile’ vote. So basically you get to vote in the first election after you emigrate.
People who’ve emigrated less than 5 years are statistically the most likely to come home, so have more of an argument for getting a vote. Anyone gone 5 years+, or having never lived in the country (in the case of most Nordies), should absolutely not get a vote.
Fupp off Jurry, you murderous reprobate!
Yes.
Also, I have a lot of relatives who were economically forced to emigrate.
They should have a vote in all elections, not just presidential.