Irish Overseas - Postal Vote

Irish Wolf

alcon wrote:

I'm curious as to where you got this information. I've been campaigning for years regarding emmigrant voting rights, but so far I think I only ever had 2 or 3 favourable replies from any politician.

However, I am EU Staff. I work in Brussels. I am fiscally resident in Ireland. Although I live here, I am only on the alien residence list, and am not considered fully resident.

I've never heard of provision made for EU Staff. Have you a reference for this, or is it only rumour and hearsay?

I'd be *very* interested.

This makes reference to Irish diplomats abroad... http://www.citizensinformation.ie/categories/government-in-ireland/elections-and-referenda/voting/registering-to-vote#rates

alcon

Irish Wolf wrote:

This makes reference to Irish diplomats abroad... http://www.citizensinformation.ie/categories/government-in-ireland/elections-and-referenda/voting/registering-to-vote#rates

Thanks. I've read this site backwards and forwards last week. However, EU staff are not considered to be diplomats abroad. By EU staff I mean people working in the European Commission, European Parliament, etc as "European" civil servants.

Irish civil servants posted in embassies and permanent representations do have the right to vote.

Thanks anyway... I was getting my hopes up.

irishsurfer

I was led to understand that Eurocrats ( I cant spell beaurucrats:p ) could vote.

I think there is enough people to justify a change in two administrative glitches that affect Irish people abroad who are domicile but not resident.

1) That the postal vote system be extended to those like Alcon and myself.
2) That a secratary or ambassador can sign a passport application form

mountainyman

Fly home to vote Ryanair do flights for 1 cent. Too expensive or can't you be bothered.

MM

bonkey

mountainyman wrote:

Fly home to vote Ryanair do flights for 1 cent. Too expensive or can't you be bothered.

Neither.

Ryanair don't fly from where I live, nor where I work
Ryanair don't fly to where I'm registered.
Even if they did, the time cost would be significant, and 1 cent is not indicative of the overall cost, once you figure in airport taxes, as well as costs of getting to and from airports.

mountainyman

Drive to Geneva.
Get on Plane.
Get off Plane
Go home.

Vote

You can't be bothered. Fair enough.

MM

A Dub in Glasgo

mountainyman wrote:

Drive to Geneva.
Get on Plane.
Get off Plane
Go home.

Vote

You can't be bothered. Fair enough.

MM

You assume people can drive and they have a vehicle. Your flippant attitude on the logistics of going to embassies is revealing

bonkey

mountainyman wrote:

Drive to Geneva.
Get on Plane.
Get off Plane
Go home.

Door-to-door thats at least 12 hours.
Plus 12 hours in return.

Travelling costs will run to the region of several hundred euro, all told.

You can't be bothered. Fair enough.

Spending at least two days of my life, taking time off work, plus spending several hundred euro in order to vote?

You're right.

I can't be bothered doing that.

Tell me though....if you were charged 2 days of holidays from work, plus several hundred in order to get through the polling-booth door....would you vote?

irishsurfer

I will be on a fecking ship lads, no handy airports in the North Sea - and I would not have started this posting if I could not be bothered

rlogue

mountainyman wrote:

Drive to Geneva.
Get on Plane.
Get off Plane
Go home.

Vote

You can't be bothered. Fair enough.

MM

You're too arrogant and lazy to contribute a coherent argument.

Nor have you obviously ever travelled by RyanScare - that so-called 1c fare rapidly turns into a €100+ fare once all the taxes are added.

Meanwhile - back to the argument - I've long advocated that there should be a panel in the Seanad of six senators directly elected by Irish citizens now resident overseas. The vote should be a postal vote and under these proposals the diaspora would have a say in the Oireachtas without affecting the composition of the government of the day.

oscarBravo

rlogue wrote:

You're too arrogant and lazy to contribute a coherent argument.

And you haven't read the charter.

mountainyman is already banned for trolling, so can we all please stop feeding him?

axer

rlogue wrote:

Meanwhile - back to the argument - I've long advocated that there should be a panel in the Seanad of six senators directly elected by Irish citizens now resident overseas. The vote should be a postal vote and under these proposals the diaspora would have a say in the Oireachtas without affecting the composition of the government of the day.

Couldn't disagree more. The government should be focused on running this country and looking after those living in this country not looking after those living in other countries. An example of the type of crap that those six senators you propose would be involved in would be hypocrytical causes such as the government requesting the legalisation of ILLEGAL Irish in the USA. In this day and age people do not need to immigrate to find work so that is no longer an excuse. Those that did emmigrate for work can return home if they are so worried about their country.

rlogue

axer wrote:

Couldn't disagree more. The government should be focused on running this country and looking after those living in this country not looking after those living in other countries. An example of the type of crap that those six senators you propose would be involved in would be hypocrytical causes such as the government requesting the legalisation of ILLEGAL Irish in the USA. In this day and age people do not need to immigrate to find work so that is no longer an excuse. Those that did emmigrate for work can return home if they are so worried about their country.

Again another example of a simplistic, ignorant policy were that to be the attitude of the government.

Not everyone is in a position to return home either. If that were the case then why shouldn't we register in our home consitituencies and take that mythical 1c Ryanair flight home each election?

But of course as far as many in Ireland are concerned, once the Diaspora ****ed off out, they should stay ****ed off out. Never mind the safety valve we provided when the Irish economy was a dead man walking, eh? :mad:

Adds: Of course we are very much unique in Europe in that we don't allow ex-patriates to vote in any kind of election.

I don't advocate giving the vote to any Irish citizen as that would be simply too much - but I would advocate giving a vote for that Senate panel to anyone who had previously been on the Irish voters register but were now living outside the state.

axer

rlogue wrote:

Again another example of a simplistic, ignorant policy were that to be the attitude of the government.

Why should should those not living in Ireland be part of the democratic process unless they are abroad serving Ireland or temporarily abroad i.e. on holidays. Those that live abroad longer than the term of a government should definitely have no say in the running of the Irish Government.

rlogue wrote:

But of course as far as many in Ireland are concerned, once the Diaspora ****ed off out, they should stay ****ed off out. Never mind the safety valve we provided when the Irish economy was a dead man walking, eh? :mad:

Im sure the people are grateful to those who provided this "safety valve" (?) you speak of. Why don't you make the place you are living in a better place instead i.e. by getting involved and voting in politics wherever you are.

rlogue

Im sure the people are grateful to those who provided this "safety valve" (?) you speak of. Why don't you make the place you are living in a better place instead i.e. by getting involved and voting in politics wherever you are.

This isn't about making where we live a better place - it's about representing the interests of the Irish abroad in the parliament of their home country. I happen to live in Britain where I do exercise my right to vote - but in this day and age where those of us outside Ireland know as much of what's going on in our country than those at home why shouldn't we have a voice in the Oireachtas?

I do not advocate voting in Dail elections as I firmly believe that only Irish citizens living in the state should have that right. But with a panel of say, six senators, elected by the postal votes of former Irish residents now living abroad - I hardly think that my proposal would severely impact the authority of the government of the day - but at least there would be someone speaking for us in the Seanad.

Not all of us can come home as easily as you may think. I personally am married, with children in secondary school and to uproot them at the stage they are at would not be right. But the fact that I and thousands of others who were registered to vote in Ireland and are now disenfranchised doesn't mean we stop caring about our country, or interested and care about what happens there.

So you can't turn off our interest in our country and its politics by wishing us to stop showing such an interest.

Because, now more than ever, we haven't really gone away, you know. ;-)