The proposed constitutional convention will look at whether Irish emigrants should be allowed to vote in elections for the presidency, the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Eamon Gilmore has said.
Unlike other countries, he said, we had a disproportionate number of people living abroad.
Speaking yesterday on a special online edition of RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland , he said: “Our population is 4½ million. The Irish diaspora is 70 million. Okay, not all of that 70 million would have passports and be entitled to vote. There are two million, for example, in the UK alone who could conceivably have the right to vote in Irish elections . . . To what extent do you have representation without taxation? That is a big issue . . . I do think we have to find some way of giving recognition to the Irish abroad and in particular to recent emigrants.”
