Right to vote

liger

I was looking at the constitution and it says,

"Every citizen who has the right to vote at an election for members of Dáil Éireann shall have the right to vote at a Referendum."

However i didnt see anything that says people actually have a right to vote. Is this covered under some other law?


Thanks.

johnfás

Yes, under the Electoral Acts and the various Elections Acts. The Electoral Act 1992 (http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1992/en/act/pub/0023/index.html#zza23y1992) would likely deal with most queries you might have on the issue though be aware there are a plethora of Acts relating to elections.

We do not grant anybody the absolute right to vote, rather we grant those who are on the electoral register the right to vote and accordingly limit people's admission to the electoral register. If one is not on the register they are not entitled to vote, irrespective of their eligibility to be on that register.

See here for an example of the criteria for entry to the register for electoral voters, Section 7 Electoral Act 1992:
presidential electors.

7.—(1) A person shall be entitled to be registered as a presidential elector in a constituency if he has reached the age of eighteen years and if he was, on the qualifying date—

( a ) a citizen of Ireland, and

( b ) ordinarily resident in that constituency.

(2) For the purposes of—

(i) the Presidential Elections Acts, 1937 to 1992,

(ii) the Referendum Acts, 1942 to 1992, and

(iii) this Act,

"presidential elector" means a person entitled to vote at an election of a person to the office of President of Ireland.

(3) In the Presidential Elections Acts, 1937 to 1992 "elector", when used alone, means a person described in subsection (1).

For general knowledge we permit the following to vote in different elections, subject of course to them meeting the residence and constituency requirements set out in the Act:

Presidential Elections & Constitutional Referenda
- Irish citizens ordinarily resident in Ireland.

General Elections
- Irish citizens ordinarily resident in Ireland.
- UK citizens ordinarily resident in Ireland.

European Elections
- Irish citizens ordinarily resident in Ireland.
- UK citizens ordinarily resident in Ireland.
- EU citizens ordinarily resident in Ireland.

Local Elections
- Irish citizens ordinarily resident in Ireland.
- UK citizens ordinarily resident in Ireland.
- EU citizens ordinarily resident in Ireland.
- All other persons ordinarily resident in Ireland.

As you will see, there is essentially a hierarchy of eligibility, with Presidential elections and Referenda at the top where only Irish citizens can vote with gradually increasing eligibility down to Local Elections where everyone ordinarily resident in the State can vote if they are on the register.

British citizens being able to vote in General Elections is based on one of the early Anglo-Irish Agreements. There is a reciprocal arrangement in place there and Irish citizens may also vote in UK General Elections if resident in the UK.

If you have any other concerns start looking up the Acts, they are all available on the www.irishstatutebook.ie website and each piece of legislation will tell you all other legislation referred to within the Act which should enable you to go searching from one to the other.

Reloc8

Not only a right to vote but a duty...as many times as they ask us too *koffahem*

liger

Thank you.