Why do Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil deny Irish citizens a vote in electing the President of Ireland?

I am an Irish citizen living in Ireland’s second city but Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil deny me a vote for President of Ireland

✴︎

IN THE SEANAD on Wednesday, Fianna Fáil pulled a stroke. It isn’t their first. It’ll hardly be their last.

My motion in the Irish Parliament called for the Irish Government to outline a timeframe for the extension of votes in Presidential elections to Irish citizens in the North and the Diaspora.

Fine Gael submitted an amendment which was clearly about procrastinating and kicking my motion up the road. That’s hardly surprising from them; it is, after all, their usual form.

Fianna Fáil, however, said (right up until the point that the debate started in the chamber) that they would support my motion and not the amendment (we have e-mails to prove it).

And sure why wouldn’t Fianna Fáil“The Republican Party” support it?

The motion is totally in keeping with their own stated party policy and the recommendation of the Constitutional Convention as well.

You might be able to guess what happened next . . .

If I’m honest, I felt a bit sorry for the Fianna Fáil senators. They wanted to vote with us and they know and appreciate the significant importance of this issue.

It’s clear that the word came from on high that they were not to vote for a Sinn Féin motion (even if it meant actually voting against FF policy!).

They were instructed to again join their Fine Gael partners in Government and push through a watery amendment.

So there you have it. 

One day Mícheál Martin is in Belfast saying he’ll stand up for Irish citizens post-Brexit, on another day he’ll tell us they are going to run candidates for election in the North – but, when they get back to Dublin, Fianna Fáil just won’t agree we have the right to vote for the President.

No doubt they’ll head to the USA on St Patrick’s Day, wrap the green flag round them and profess to be the champions of the Diaspora.

Well, they’d the chance to enfranchise the Diaspora this week and what did they do? Yup. Another long finger from Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael.

So, it’s over to all of you.

We will keep the pressure on. We will stand up for the rights and entitlements of citizens but we can’t do it alone. This campaign is stepping up a gear because equality and rights shouldn’t have to wait.

I encourage you to contact your local Fianna Fáil rep or Fianna Fáil Head Office and demand equal rights for your family and neighbours overseas, and demand equality for your fellow citizens in the North.

When the Good Friday Agreement guaranteed citizenship, as of birthright, to Irish people in the North, it didn’t mean conditional citizenship.

It didn’t mean partial citizenship and it certainly didn’t mean second-class citizenship.

It’s time An Taoiseach Enda Kenny and his ‘deputy First Taoiseach’, Mícheál Martin, realised this and actually delivered when they had the chance this week in Parliament.