The Irish News has published an article highlighting the ongoing controversy surrounding voting rights for non-resident Irish citizens. The piece details responses to the incoming Irish government’s omission of any commitment to voting rights for citizens living in Northern Ireland or abroad in its draft programme for government.
It quotes Sinn Féin Stormont minister and Seanad candidate Conor Murphy.
This denial of democratic rights is unacceptable and must end.”
The Newry and Armagh MLA said a referendum to amend Article 12 of the Irish constitution was agreed by the government in 2017, yet no progress had been made since.
“The time for excuses is over – it’s long past time to deliver on this important democratic right for all Irish citizens at home and abroad,” he said.
Queen’s University Belfast human rights lecturer Professor Colin Harvey was also quoted. He said the incoming Dublin government needed to clarify why it had dropped the previous commitment to hold a referendum on presidential voting rights.
He said such a move would be “of profound concern and disappointment to many in the north and beyond”.
“There will be another Irish presidential election this year where we will once again be denied voting rights,” he said.
“Think about it: we are not permitted to vote for our own president.
“How long must we be expected to wait for change? The warm words about a shared island often sound very hollow indeed.”
Read the full article at IrishNews.com:
Incoming government urged to reinstate commitment to give diaspora presidential voting rights
Voting Rights.ie 
Especially when Democracy is threatened in many countries including now the US it is a disgrace that in Ireland the government countries to treat a portion of its citizens as second class citizens and deny them a vote and participation in the future of their own country. Yet cynically at the same time the government is very happy to try and monetize the success and presence of Irish born citizens abroad at every opportunity.
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