Sir, – I would place a much greater urgency in enabling our existing citizens, eligible to vote in our Dáil elections, to be able to vote while away from their own constituency base on election day, perhaps due to work, third level courses, or vacation. Facilitating voting democracy, as with charity, begins at home!
Personally I have grave doubts about the real purpose of enfranchising our valued diaspora in our presidential voting system. I think the UK’s 15-year-rule, or some such constraint, has much to commend it, if we were to go ahead with this “populist” concept.
Could there be yet another political pander behind this proposal, akin to other daft ones, like providing for 21-year-old presidents and for 16-year-old voters?
Presumably if we could devise a secure way for our “qualified diaspora” to vote in our presidential elections, as is being mooted for 2025, it would be quite easy to implement a secure way for eligible voters to exercise their franchise in a Dáil election, by means of postal voting and/or by use of technology at garda stations, embassies, etc? Presumably too, our electoral register is now fully up to date and everyone has a unique RSI number and most of us have official ID (such as a passport or public service card). – Yours, etc,
JOHN BLAKE DILLON,
Donnybrook,
Dublin 4 .