A broad coalition of Senators has called for voting rights to be extended to Irish citizens living abroad. Senators representing all of the political parties in the Upper House have backed a 10-point plan that would see the franchise extended to emigrants and Irish citizens living in Northern Ireland. The plan was unveiled at a press conference on Wednesday afternoon by Billy Lawless, an Independent Senator who lives in the US and is viewed as the Irish diaspora’s representative in the Seanad. It was accompanied by a policy paper prepared by Irish emigrants group VotingRights.ie.
The policy paper recognises that there would be challenges in defining Irish citizenship and selecting what elections would be open to Irish citizens living abroad.
There was broad consensus from the Senators at the event that the franchise should initially be extended for Presidential and Seanad elections.
Full Article: Senators support plan for emigrant voting rights.