Ireland is one of the only countries in the developed world not to allow its citizens abroad a postal vote, but many recent emigrants didn’t let that stop them from casting a ballot in last week’s same-sex marriage referendum.
Between Thursday and Saturday, 110,000 #HomeToVote tweets were posted on the social media site as hundreds if not thousands of emigrants flocked back from all over the world to have their say. In doing so, they showed Ireland and the world that they not only cared about rights for same-sex couples, but also their personal right to have a say in the country they left behind, in many cases temporarily.
The European Commission criticised Ireland last year for “disenfranchising” its citizens living abroad. In 2013, the Constitutional Convention voted overwhelmingly in favour of granting emigrants a vote in presidential elections, which both Fine Gael and Labour had promised to do in their Programme for Government. Since the early 1990s most political parties have made similar pre-election statements, but no government has delivered.
The Government’s first-ever diaspora policy this year recognised the widespread call from the Irish abroad for a vote, but failed to commit to anything other than a promise to “analyse the policy, legal and practical issues” of who should be able to vote, how, and for how long after they move abroad.
Many of the LGBT people who shared their reaction to the Yes result on The Irish Times' Generation Emigration forum left Ireland because they didn't feel accepted. Some said the result would directly impact their decision to return to live here, dealing a strong blow to the argument that emigrants shouldn't have a vote because they are not affected by the outcomes. There is a strong case for extending the vote to migrants, for 15 years after moving abroad, in presidential and referendum votes, as well as in a dedicated "Irish abroad" constituency in the Seanad.