New referendum on dispora voting due

A simple question thus. Why is Ireland one of the few outliers in the EU regards this? As I posted above, the French in Ireland got to have a say about who their next president is. Australians in Ireland will get to have a say in the Australian election next month. Etc.. etc...

You honestly think that we are more civic-minded and more enlightened about our participation in government and democracy than the French and Australians (or the Germans, Swedes, Danes, Poles, Dutch, Kiwi's...etc..)

I think not.

The simple reason is, that we have not done this before, so it is alien to people, so their gut reaction is to reject it and come out with nonsense soundbites and the like.

That is a poor argument. I didn't see the introduction of the USC either before it was introduced.

You do realise that no party has an overall majority thus it's a compromise anyway.

I think a 10-year timeframe is very fair IMO. After 10 years, if you are still living abroad, chances are you are not coming back and/or you are a citizen in your new country and can vote in those elections.

Most EU countries give you a time limit, but some have none at all, like the French for example.

The point made was that there was no need for a referendum on this, on a point of law.

However, it seems having a Citizens Assembly for any tricky political problem is now how we run the country. From housing to voting rights to planning, everything tricky is getting shoved off the Citizens Assembly to discuss, which is kind of ironic as we already have a Citizens Assembly, it's called Dail Eireann. That is besides the point though.

Don't think he qualifies (don't you have to speak Irish)?

Gerry Adams, in the other hand, I think world get support.

exactly its pathetic the elected citizen assembly (dail) handing over the important matters to be decided by the unelected "citizens assembly" - its a disgrace

It’s a bizarre referendum really.

i think the 3 year rule is appropriate.

people who have left the country 3 plus years won’t have a cognisant first hand experience of the challenges, positives, benefits, unfair elements of Irish society that impact people here…. so I don’t think after 3 years it’s appropriate that they can have a say….

the cost of running a referendum is approximately 15 million. I can think of a lot better ways for the state to spend 15 million euros.

This strikes me as another one of those soft "feel good" items that distract the population from the rather more serious and immediate issues facing them for a few weeks so beloved of FG over the last few years.

Of course, as happened with the SSM referendum, anyone against the idea or even raising questions is labelled as a dinosaur and worse than Hitler. That's not to say that SSM passing wasn't a very good thing (it was!), but the campaign around it on social media was a rather ugly one sided thing - as these things have become generally once the Twitter crowd get involved, where anyone not vocally in support of whatever the agreed position is shouted down or rounded on.

Everyone should be free to express their views on an issue, regardless of whether it's popular or fits in with the approved consensus on an issue. Ultimately it'll be decided in the ballot box.

On this particular question though - no, I don't believe that people who've left this country to start a new life elsewhere should continue to have a say in elections or referenda here. They no longer live here and are not directly connected to or affected by the issue regardless, and as I've said, the damaging power of social media is one to be concerned about - we've already seen how it's affected elections in the US for example and the social division and unrest that the propaganda and manipulation results in. Do we REALLY need or want that here too? Our electorate is already too influenced by social media and polarised on certain issues as it is.

Additionally, why should people not living, working and part of society here have a say in policy decisions or elections that will affect only those who are? It doesn't make sense and given the potential numbers of external voters coupled with the online element, it would have the very real possibility of their votes overwhelming the votes of those actually here.

Not a good idea. This country has already given away too much control to others (the EU) without further diluting what little influence we have left over our own lives.

Nothing gets decided by the Citizen’s Assembly. The make proposals to Government which all go through the normal democratic processes.