A chara, – In the late 1980s, a group of activists from the Irish community in London organised a conference in the Brent Irish Centre to highlight the issues of emigration. Issues highlighted included the destruction of rural communities, high levels of homelessness and alcoholism among Irish communities worldwide, the emotional trauma for families and, most of all, the failure of successive governments to create a robust economy on the island.
I always give the former senator Joe O’Toole, who attended our conferences, credit for pushing the “emigrant vote” issue forward.
There were powerful elements within Irish party politics, however, who rejected the proposal. There are those of us who remember a prominent figure’s view that “we cannot all live on one small island”. Another politician, then a minister for the environment, claimed that the Irish emigrant “cannot be trusted on how he will vote”!
I commend Ciarán Cannon TD for driving this issue forward once again.
Despite the fact that the vast majority of democracies implement mechanisms to offer their citizens abroad a vote, there will be those who will reject the concept.
Giving a voice to the voiceless is a commendable project, and I earnestly hope that the Oireachtas sees fit to support Mr Cannon. – Yours, etc,
LIAM Ó CUINNEAGÁIN,
Gleann Cholm Cille,
Co Dhún na nGall.