AN IMAGE SHOWING a United Nations news article about the Irish government giving refugees the right to vote has been shared recently on social media.
The article appeared on the ‘Ireland’ section of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees website and is headlined “Ireland grants refugees and asylum seekers right to vote”.
The image also references an “announcement by the Minister for Environment, Heritage and Local Government this week”. However, the article was originally published in 2004.
Asylum seekers and refugees have been allowed to vote in local elections for the past two decades and this is not a new development or in any way related to the upcoming local elections.
The right to vote was extended to them after the Government said it would extend the list of documents that they would allow people to use to register to vote.
These include the Temporary Registration Certificate (TRC) card carried by asylum seekers and the Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB) card carried by refugees.
Ireland’s situation in allowing foreign nationals to vote is not unusual and many other European Union countries have similar arrangements, including Belgium, Estonia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Slovakia and Slovenia.
The constitutional basis to allow foreign nationals to vote in Ireland was passed by referendum in 1999.
However, only Irish citizens and British citizens who live in Ireland can vote in general elections.
Refugees and asylum seekers are only allowed to vote in local elections, which are held every five years and decide the members of city and county councils, which create policies for things like roads, planning, housing, parks, and waste collection.
They are not allowed to vote in general elections, presidential elections, European elections or referendums.
Misinformation previously circulated last year claiming that the Government had extended the right to vote to asylum seekers and refugees as part of a “power-grab”.
Some have incorrectly suggested that the Government would allow foreign nationals into Ireland to vote for them because they would be grateful to the Government for granting them asylum.
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