Votes, Votes, Votes: Explaining the Long Road to Emigrant Enfranchisement in Ireland

Theresa Reidy

doi:10.3389/fpos.2021.722444

Abstract

Enfranchisement of emigrant citizens living outside their home states has been a notable trend in recent decades. While emigrant voting rights are viewed by some as an important part of the wave of suffrage reforms that began in the 1970s, for others they are a contested development that rupture the essence of democracy by breaking the link between citizenship and residence. This article connects insights from the emigrant voting literature with historical institutionalism to argue that the longstanding avoidance of emigrant enfranchisement in the Republic of Ireland was overcome during the Great Recession because of an economic imperative, the need for greater investment from the emigrant community. Diaspora campaigners explicitly linked economic engagement with political rights and the pathway to the policy reform was set. The government gave a commitment in 2017 to hold a referendum to implement the emigrant franchise reform and it is scheduled for 2022, having been initially delayed by the Covid 19 pandemic.

Highlights

Cross-border migration has been transformed by the widespread availability of modestly priced air travel and the ICT revolution that gathered pace from the 1990s
In March 2017, the government published its options paper on external voting and while on a state visit to the United States for St Patrick’s Day, the prime minister announced that the government intended to proceed with a referendum on extending voting rights to Irish citizens living outside the state at presidential elections
Remittances declined in importance by the last quarter of the 20th century, the economic imperatives created by the great recession generated a renewed interest in the economic potential of the Irish abroad

Summary

Introduction

Cross-border migration has been transformed by the widespread availability of modestly priced air travel and the ICT revolution that gathered pace from the 1990s. Emigrant groups stepped up their lobbying for reform and the government elected in 2011 proposed a restrictive variant of emigrant voting be considered as part of the first national deliberative forum, the Constitutional Convention of Ireland (2012–2014).

Results

Conclusion