Presidential poll must be last that NI residents cannot vote in – O’Neill

By Rebecca Black, PA

Northern Ireland’s First Minister has said this must be the last Irish presidential election that those living north of the border cannot vote in.

Michelle O’Neill said the fact that she could stand for election to become the next president of Ireland, but cannot vote in the same election, is a “huge gap” that needs to be closed.

She was speaking on Monday just days after deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly confirmed her opposition to those in Northern Ireland being able to vote in the Irish presidential election.

On Friday Ms Little-Pengelly said Northern Ireland has a head of state, referring to the King.

She added caution not to “overstep the mark” between a “political reality and a political aspiration”.

Asked about those comments at Stormont on Monday, Ms O’Neill acknowledged that they “don’t agree” on the matter.

“As an Irish citizen, the irony is all this debate is the fact that I as an Irish citizen can stand for the office of Uachtaráin na hÉireann, but cannot vote in that election,” she said.

“That’s a huge gap and a deficit that needs to be corrected, and we’re determined to ensure that that is the case.

“This needs to be the last election for Uachtaráin na hÉireann where northern citizens are left out of the vote because we have to be afforded that right as Irish citizens.”

In 2013, a constitutional convention in the Republic of Ireland recommended extending the voting franchise to Irish citizens living outside the state.

Such a move would require a referendum on amending Ireland’s constitution.

A vote was due to take place in 2019 but was postponed amid the turbulent political context of post-Brexit negotiations focused on the Irish border.

Sinn Féin has been pressing the Irish Government to push ahead with the issue but there has been no fresh commitment for a referendum.

Speaking alongside Ms O’Neill at Parliament Buildings in Belfast on Monday, Sinn Féin president Mary Lou McDonald expressed her regret at the situation.

“It’s a great pity that in this election again citizens north of the border can’t elect their president,” she said.

“It’s ironic really, somebody from Belfast or Derry or Fermanagh or Tyrone could stand as Uachtaráin na hÉireann, could be elected to that post but cannot vote for the First Citizen. It’s something that needs to be corrected, it should have corrected a long time ago.”