Voting rights

The Gaping Hole in Irish Political Thinking

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By Billy Lawless, Emma DeSouza & Kevin J. Sullivan . The authors are all members of the Executive Committee of www.votingrights.ie Two themes currently dominate political thought regarding the future of the Irish Nation: the concept of a shared Ireland, promoted by Micheal Martin while he was Taoiseach and the quest for a United Ireland, promoted by Future Ireland and Sinn Fein. Both of these approaches ignore the fact that two large groups of Irish citizens, just under a million– …

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Busting Myths and Making the case for extending the franchise for Presidential Elections.

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With the formation of a new Irish government and as we look toward recovery, I wanted to put together a discussion about Presidential voting rights for the diaspora. My panel had Ben Kelly from the VICA Campaign and Naomi O’Leary from the Irish Times and the Irish Passport Podcast.  “Áras an Uachtaráin” by jaqian is licensed under CC BY David McCannDavid McCann holds a PhD in North-South relations from University of Ulster. You can follow him on twitter @dmcbfs

Imagine the impact it would have if even 1-2pc of the Irish diaspora were enfranchised?

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On that plan to globalise voting rights for the Presidency, Shane Coleman with a (two )large bucket(s) of cold water in his hands… …without any detail to accompany the sweeping vision, it all smacks of “never mind the quality, feel the width”. There are far, far more questions than answers. How would it work? Who would get votes – everybody across the world eligible for an Irish passport, including second and third-generation Irish? Or just those who grew up in …

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