{"id":2592,"date":"2017-03-14T09:32:56","date_gmt":"2017-03-14T09:32:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/qpol.qub.ac.uk\/?p=2592"},"modified":"2017-03-14T09:32:56","modified_gmt":"2017-03-14T09:32:56","slug":"voting-rights-ireland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/qpol\/voting-rights-ireland\/","title":{"rendered":"Referendum in Ireland to Extend Voting Rights"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Irish government has decided to hold a referendum <\/a>on granting the right to vote in Irish presidential elections to Irish citizens living outside the state, including Irish citizens living in Northern Ireland. The referendum is likely to be held next year and, if passed, the new rules would come into force for the 2025 presidential election.<\/p>\n

This decision to hold a referendum is the result of a recommendation made by Irish citizens at the Constitutional Convention in 2013. The Convention was an example of deliberative democracy in action: a random selection of Irish citizens \u2013 broadly representative of Irish citizens as a whole in terms of age, gender, social class and other characteristics \u2013 was selected to discuss (alongside a sample of elected politicians) a range of constitutional themes, and to make recommendations.<\/p>\n

On this particular issue, the citizens met over a weekend and reflected on evidence presented by a range of experts, including two QUB academics. Professor Colin Harvey presented to the citizens <\/a>an analysis of the legal and constitutional aspects of extending the right to vote to Irish citizens resident outside the state.<\/p>\n

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