The Government will make a decision before Christmas on whether to hold a referendum next year to permit Irish people living overseas to vote in presidential elections, the Minister of State for the Diaspora Jimmy Deenihan, has said ahead of a five-day visit to the United States. The Minister, who arrives in New York today for his first trip to the US in his new role, said he saw no reason why the vote couldn’t be extended to Seanad elections, given that graduates of Trinity College Dublin and the National University of Ireland around the world vote in those ballots.
The diaspora might be allowed to vote in Dáil elections in the future, he said, but he acknowledged this would be “more difficult to administer if you had people voting in different constituencies”. “In time it could evolve to [a] vote in the Dáil election,” he said.
Mr Deenihan is looking at the French model where seats are reserved in parliament for nationals living abroad but he said a diaspora vote in the Dáil election was not being considered right now.
Full Article: Cabinet to decide on diaspora presidential vote shortly.