MANY IRISH PEOPLE are currently considering how to vote in the upcoming presidential election – but others don’t have that option.

We wanted to know what people who can’t vote in the upcoming election make of it all, so we asked our readers who fall into this category what they think.

Would they vote if they could? How would they vote? And how does the current position make them feel? We received a wide range of contributions and views.

Your stories ran the gamut from emigrants who think it’s absolutely right that the diaspora cannot influence elections to Irish citizens in Northern Ireland who feel they are treated as second-class through their continued disenfranchisement.

It’s now 12 years since the constitutional convention – a forerunner of the more recent citizens’ assemblies – recommended that citizens resident outside the state should have a vote in presidential elections. 

This would have given both the diaspora and Irish citizens in the North a vote this month. However, former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar’s 2018 bill to hold a referendum on the matter was shelved because of Brexit, and has not been resurrected.

People resident in Ireland who hold Irish citizenship – no matter how long they have been living here, and no matter how Irish they may feel – also have no say in selecting the next head of state. 

Our sincere thanks to everyone who got in touch to share their views and experience. Here’s what you told us.

Lack of postal ballots

First off, it’s worth noting that quite a few readers got in touch to express frustration that they cannot vote for another reason entirely: simply because they will be out of the country on polling day for work, holidays or other reasons.

Unlike many other countries, Ireland does not allow most people to vote by post; this is only really available for Irish officials on duty abroad, such as members of the Defence Forces or diplomats.

Readers noted that the election is being held on the last Friday before most schools’ mid-term break, and it’s also likely to be reading week in many colleges, so a lot of people will inevitably be travelling. We heard from seafarers, students and other citizens who feel they should be able to vote by proxy or by post.

One of them, Teresa Campbell from Co Waterford, will be out of the country for work-related travel on polling day. She said she’s disappointed and frustrated at being unable to vote – particularly given the election is expected to be closely contested.

She added that she believes it is deeply unfair that her two grown-up children, who are living in the UK, are also excluded from voting despite being “committed to Ireland’s future”.

“Advance voting or provisions for overseas voting would ensure that Irish citizens, at home and abroad, can have their voices heard. At a time when voter participation should be encouraged, it is disheartening to feel that mine – and my children’s – votes simply cannot count.”

Nineteen-year-old Elizabeth Gillen from Co Louth, currently studying global studies in the Netherlands, noted that many of her fellow students from other countries are able to vote using mail ballots. 

Northern Ireland

Readers in Northern Ireland who got in touch were united in expressing disappointment, frustration or disgust at the current system, which they feel to be dismissive of them and discriminatory.

Some noted what they believed to be the absurdity that Ireland has had a president from Northern Ireland – Mary McAleese – who herself couldn’t vote in that election. 

Declan O’Loan from Ballymena said the franchise should be extended to all voters in Northern Ireland, not just Irish passport holder, as this would be “just another source of division”.

He would have liked to have seen Maria Steen on the slate, but of the remaining candidates he would favour Heather Humphreys. He praised her warmth and humanity – and added that her Protestant background would be a “real asset if she is elected and a border poll happens during her term in office” as it could “help to calm fears in the unionist community”.

We heard from a priest in the cross-border diocese of Clogher who feels he is discrminated against by being excluded from voting because his current address is in Northern Ireland.

Another reader, Jake MacSiacais, said: “Rugadh agus tugadh mé i mBéal Feirste in Éirinn agus tá sé scannálach nach bhfuil vóta agam don Uactaránacht. Dá mbeadh chaithfinn mo vóta do Catherine Connolly.”

Gáibhin McGranaghan, also living in Belfast, said that, as an Irish citizen, Uachtarán na hÉireann is his head of state too. McGranaghan said he had “proudly” voted for Michael D Higgins while living in Dublin in 2018, adding that 140 other countries allow citizens abroad to vote. 

Being denied this right feels like being told I’m less Irish than someone in Cavan or Kerry.

He added that if he could vote, he’d vote for Catherine Connolly, who he believes has “shown through her record on social justice and her willingness to visit Belfast this summer – despite knowing she’d gain no votes here – that she genuinely wants to be a president for everyone on this island”.

We heard too from people born in the Republic who have moved to the North and in doing so lost their right to vote.

“We live every aspect of our lives as Irish people – GAA, music, culture, friendships and family. [We] should have a vote,” said Aidan from Dublin, who lives in Armagh with his wife and children.

Emigrants

We heard a range of views from Irish emigrants living abroad. While some people say it’s right that those who are not in the country can’t influence its politics, many others felt strongly that they should have a say.

Emigrants noted that the presidential election is in many ways a special case – it’s a somewhat ceremonial or figurehead role, and it’s also an office that tends to be held for a really long time.

Deirdre Freegarde, living in England, noted that in the past 50 years, presidents have tended to remain in office for 14 years – “a very long time by any standard”, and certainly much longer than any head of government in the current era of rotating taoisigh.

“Those of us who work abroad but retain or Irish citizenship and keep in touch with the place and plan to live in Ireland again ought to have a stake in this,” Freegarde said.

Dave from Co Cork, living in Canada, said he believes it’s fair enough that he can’t vote in local, general or European elections as he does not pay tax at home – but the presidency is different.

“The Irish story is one of emigration. Being able to have that link to home by being allowed to vote in the presidential election would mean an awful lot to me, as I’m sure it would a lot of other Irish,” he said.

Graham Nolan from Tallaght in Dublin has been living in the Middle East for 13 years, but owns property and pays tax here as a landlord.

“I come home to visit every summer. I’m Irish,” said Nolan, who says he would “love to vote”.

He said he believes it’s wrong that he can’t vote when asylum seekers can vote in local elections if their application for international protection is pending a decision.

“How on earth can somebody with zero affiliation with Ireland and whose residency status is pending have a right to vote instead of me?” Nolan said.

He added that he finds it “infuriating” that he can’t vote when non-EU citizens can vote in local elections and EU citizens also have certain voting rights.

If he had a vote in this presidential election he says he would spoil it.  

However, David, living in Australia for 20 years, said that while he and other members of the diaspora might feel strongly about events in Ireland, “we don’t have to deal with the consequences of any changes that might result from my vote”. 

He and his wife have kids who are also of voting age and are Irish citizens.

“Where would you draw the line?  If everyone that has an entitlement to foreign birth registration went out and registered and enrolled to vote, what would be the impact upon Irish society?” he asked.

We also heard from Irish citizens from the wider diaspora, including a resident of California who had an Irish grandmother.

“I take my [Irish] citizenship as seriously as I do my US citizenship. I follow Irish politics closely. I still haven’t made a decision as to my candidate, but I lean toward a candidate that wants unity on the island,” this reader said.

Immigrants

We were contacted by many people who have made their home in Ireland who cannot vote this month. Some immigrants noted that presidential elections generate discussion about the voting rights of Irish citizens in the North and abroad, but the rights of immigrants do not get the same political and media attention.

Several of the immigrants who got in touch with us have lived in Ireland for decades. Some have lived here since they were children and consider themselves Irish, despite not having the relevant “piece of paper”. (More than one person who got in touch with us also complained that becoming a citizen is quite expensive.)

A smaller number of people who have moved to Ireland did not have a problem with being unable to vote.

“As an Englishman living in Cork with my Irish wife and children I view myself as a guest of Ireland. I do not believe that I have a moral right to vote for any Irish party, politician or leader,” said Ian Lihou.

By contrast, another British citizen, Miranda MacDonald, said she believed her exclusion from voting in the presidential election was deeply unfair, and made her feel like there was a “two-tier system”. MacDonald has lived in Ireland for 12 years with her family, and added that she contributes to the economy and pays tax.

“The president is supposed to represent all people in Ireland,” MacDonald said.

She added that she does not believe it would be fair for the vote to be extended to Irish citizens who have moved to the UK or elsewhere, while those who have made Ireland their home are excluded. 

“If I could vote I would vote for Catherine Connelly as I support her stance on pacifism and Irish neutrality,” MacDonald said.

Marcel Haubold, originally from Germany but now living in Dublin, said he’s here for good and hopes to get Irish citizenship as soon as he is eligible. He can still vote in Germany – but those decisions don’t affect him anymore. 

“Is it really modern or fair to exclude people from voting simply because their passport hasn’t caught up with where their heart and home are? This exclusion feels like being told that despite contributing to society here, my voice doesn’t count when choosing its
symbolic representative, the president,” Haubold said.

He too would vote for Catherine Connolly if he could because she “embodies independence and represents all people equally without party constraints, a quality essential for a head of state meant to unite rather than divide”.