Sinn Féin Leader Mary Lou McDonald today said that November’s election must be the last Presidential election that excludes citizens in the North, and citizens living abroad.
She said: “It’s a matter of some injustice, a violation of democracy, that Irish citizens in the six counties and those living aboard are denied the right to vote for their Uachtarán.
“Every seven years, when the Presidential Election rolls around, Irish citizens from the North and living overseas are told by the political establishment that they are less Irish, forced to accept second-class status, alienated from the nation to which they belong.
“You can also be a candidate for the office of President, but if you reside in Derry, as did Martin McGuinness, you’re not allowed a vote. You can even win the election and become President of Ireland, but because you’re from Belfast, as was Mary McAleese, you’re barred from voting for yourself.”
Ms. McDonald was speaking in the Dáil as she moved a Sinn Féin motion calling for voting rights in Presidential elections to be extended to all Irish citizens on the island of Ireland and the diaspora.
Highlighting that it is now 11 years since Sinn Féin legislation providing for the extension of Presidential voting rights passed Second Stage in the Dáil, she added: “For more than a decade, both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have promised to extend Presidential voting rights. But nothing has happened. The commitment has even been dropped from the current Programme for Government.
“Delay is no longer acceptable; delay was never acceptable. What we need now, finally, is a clear timeline from the government and a date for the holding of a referendum.
“November’s election must be the last Presidential election that excludes citizens in the North and those living abroad who so deeply love their country.” |
