From the Belfast Telegraph:
The SDLP and Fianna Fáil have supported a proposal by the southern party’s youth wing to extend the vote for an Irish president to Northern Ireland as they encouraged unionists to “embrace” the invitation.
Fianna Fáil members Brendan Smith TD, Senator Erin McGreehan, Niall Blaney TD and SDLP MLA Justin McNulty supported the launch of the Ógra Fianna Fáil plan at Stormont.
Fianna Fáil TD for Cavan-Monaghan Brendan Smith said extending the franchise for future elections for the Office of President of Ireland — Uachtarán na hÉireann — is a small but meaningful acknowledgement of the need to be inclusive of both traditions, and none, on this island in constitutional change in the future.
At the moment, it is just a proposal, and the details seem nonexistent. How would it work in practice? Would it be a postal ballot? Online? In person? If in-person how many centres? If you give it to people in the North, why not Irish people living aboard?
I would have thought a possible way to do it would be to open it up to anyone with an Irish passport. You can have an online system that validates your passport and lets you vote online.
Thoughts?
I feel like Michael D. Higgins is exactly what the rest of the world would imagine the President of Ireland to look like 🇮🇪 pic.twitter.com/J7UAPA4bhd
— Hσ Rσɠαɳ 🐌 (@_czechuntr) September 19, 2022
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