Madam, – It was with sincere disappointment that I recently learned I will be unable to vote in the planned general election in the New Year as I, like many other young people of Ireland, have decided to emigrate to Canada on a 12-month visa.
As a 25-year-old Irishwoman who has spent the past three years working and paying taxes to the Irish Government and who will return to this country at the end of next year to no doubt recommence working and paying taxes, it seems unjust and undemocratic that I will not be eligible to vote in a general election which will determine important aspects of my future long after I return from abroad.
Ireland is one of the few developed countries where your right as a citizen to vote is removed if you are resident outside the country.
It seems shameful, particularly at this time of immense political and economic upheaval, that my right (and that of other young Irish people who have been forced to seek opportunities abroad) to partake in such an integral process has been denied. – Yours, etc,