Sir, – I read Brianna Parkins’s piece on voting from abroad (“Many Irish have voted with their feet but can’t vote in the election. The reason is plain”, People, November 22nd) with great interest. As someone who was forced to emigrate myself following the financial crash of 2008, the debate on voting from abroad is one I’ve seen both sides of myself through the years. On returning to the State in 2013, I was vehemently of the opinion that we should join many of our European cousins in expanding the franchise; however, in recent years, I’m not so sure.
First, our system of voting – proportional representation single transferable vote – is a lot more convoluted than most countries but also gives a more accurate expression of the public’s desire for who should be their representative. The addition of hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of additional ballots would frankly overwhelm the current count system or at least dramatically inflate the cost of running, and the time to get the result of, elections and referendums here by tens of millions of euro. This could be overcome with a move to electronic voting, but this does not appear a popular choice with the electorate either.
Second, the idea that people abroad have no influence is not something I can agree with from my own experience. The diaspora have an often powerful voice when they speak as one, and an influence over those they’ve left behind which gets expressed at the ballot boxes in the guise of their remaining friends and family. Living abroad today is not what it was a century ago and people are not cut off from Ireland, even when they’re on the other side of the globe.
Finally, the heart of the article is that many Irish people are voting with their feet and leaving the country in their tens of thousands. Whereas I’m sure this is true for many, scoffing at the idea that many do go for adventure is equally as ill advised as those who try explaining away emigration as solely thrill-seekers and not those genuinely looking for better opportunity elsewhere.
However, to stick with the facts, if one focuses on those who vote with their feet, then, for the duration of this Government, 143,000 Irish citizens have left the State, but 148,000 Irish people have returned in the same period. This is not a glowing endorsement of the political status quo, but does go to highlight the biggest danger to an expanded franchise: the dangers of media, traditional and social, to knowingly or unknowingly push information that is not a fair reflection of the conditions on the ground.
Judging what is happening in Ireland first-hand and voting accordingly cannot be substituted with a second-hand account, even those of friends, family and respected journalists.
We all have our inherent biases that will inadvertently seep into our reporting.
The only way to guide the course of a country is to experience it day-to-day and all the good and the bad that comes with it.
This is even more true given the rise of social media and the unavoidable twisting of the truth and blatant lies that exist and are pushed in the online world.
It’s safe to say that in the 11 years since my return to these shores, my attitude to this question has changed completely.
That said, the position of president is an embodiment of Irish people around the world. I am still of the opinion that they should be elected by Irish people around the world.
It’s not what many campaigners abroad would want, but perhaps would alleviate the fears many of us they leave behind continue to hold, and in time we may change our opinion.
When I vote next week, I will be voting with all the friends and family abroad at the forefront of my thoughts.
Exactly what that ballot paper will look like after my pencil has run over it is still a matter of consideration for me. – Yours, etc,
EOIN Ó NIALLÁIN,
Dublin 8.