One generally accepted truth is that the Irish abroad are very important economically, culturally and politically to Ireland, contributing immensely to a two-way exchange of culture, tourism, investment and trade. The support of Irish America has been critical in protecting the Belfast Agreement and ensuring there is no hard border on the island of Ireland. However, an alarming fact for Irish America and other members of the Irish diaspora is that it is entering a late stage of ethnicity, and many are losing touch with Ireland, other than to celebrate St Patrick’s Day.
In addition, we need to find a way to give expression to the Shared Island goals, which seek to improve co-operation and mutual understanding on the island, perhaps by giving Irish citizens in Northern Ireland an enhanced voice in their affairs in an Irish political arena.
In 2020, the Irish Government, seeking to enhance Ireland’s engagement with Irish citizens living outside the State, agreed to hold a referendum granting voting rights in presidential elections to such citizens, bringing Ireland more in line with France and other European countries. But many in Ireland seem somewhat ambivalent about this. For example, in a poll last year by Ireland Thinks, some 52 per cent of people living in Ireland agreed that all Irish citizens abroad should be entitled to vote, but 39 per cent were opposed to the idea.
Since we know too well from the Brexit fiasco that the outcomes of referendums can be unpredictable, it might be wise to look at how some other countries give a voice to the citizens beyond their borders.
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French model
Consideration should be given to a version of the French system, where French citizens living outside France directly elect assembly members to advocate and advise on issues affecting French nationals abroad, as well as to give voice to their experience with the diaspora in national debates. Such a model in Ireland could and would provide some limited but structured diaspora engagement within the Irish Senate, without threatening the Irish domestic political and economic status quo.
Even though a slim majority in the Ireland Thinks survey (51 per cent) were opposed to giving all Irish citizens living outside the State the right to vote in Seanad elections, the adapted French model, which gives candidates only limited rights to address issues in their regions outside the State, may prove acceptable to a larger group of domestic Irish voters.
This limited but structured engagement would certainly help to strengthen the ties with recent emigrants and also alleviate one of the key concerns expressed in the polling, namely the so-called “swamping” effect of votes from millions of Irish citizens living outside the State.
It is estimated by the Global Irish organisation that three million Irish passport holders live outside the Irish jurisdiction, with the vast majority living in Northern Ireland where a third of the population hold Irish passports, although some of these do so for travel convenience.
Domestic fear
Some fear that the 34 million US citizens who identify as Irish-American in the US census would tip the scale for hardline republican candidates. But that is unlikely given that most Irish-Americans would be ineligible to obtain Irish citizenship because they do not have a grandparent born in Ireland, the minimum requirement for Irish citizenship.
While limiting Senators elected beyond our borders to policy matters affecting their regions, this option still gives an important voice to the Irish abroad in formulating policy that directly affects them. It also helps to remove the Irish domestic fear of representation in Irish affairs without taxation. Moreover, such voting rights for the Seanad might seem more meaningful to many emigrants than voting in an election every seven years.
In this model, Irish citizens overseas would proportionately elect Senators to represent key Irish diaspora areas of the world, such as Northern Ireland, Britain, Europe, the Americas and the rest of the world. The number elected from these global regions could equal those elected by Irish citizen graduates (worldwide) of Trinity College Dublin and the National University of Ireland (NUI) — that is, six in total.
We believe that if properly explained to Irish voters, this proposal would be approved in a referendum without the risk and embarrassment of rejection to the diaspora.
Most importantly, adoption of the model would give Irish citizens in Northern Ireland an enhanced voice in their own affairs in the Seanad for the first time and make our Global Ireland ambitions more tangible and credible to our worldwide diaspora.
Hilary Beirne is founding chairman NYC St Patrick’s Day Foundation and an executive board member of VotingRights.ie. Ted Smyth is president of the advisory board of Glucksman Ireland House, New York University