A President for All; Contact the Candidates!!!

As the Presidential Election race begins to pick up the momentum, the work of Sinn Féin and Ógra Shinn Féin has put the issue of voting rights for those in the North on the political landscape, and it is being discussed, on National newspapers, on websites and on local radios stations.

You can help the campaign, and it will only take a few minutes.

Now is the time to escalate the campaign and to push this campaign further. We need to put the election candidates, and elected representatives under pressure. Please write to the various candidates highlighting why the need for this to happen. Particularly write if you are a northern citizen, and indicate that you would like to vote, yet are denied the opportunity.

The election candidates email addresses are;
michaeld@michaeldhiggins.ie
mary@marydavis.ie
together@seangallagher.com
gay.mitchell@europarl.europa.eu

The below is a sample letter

Dear .......

The subject of Irish citizens voting rights is on the agenda and some candidates have proclaimed their support for the idea for full voting rights for recent emigrants.
I believe many of those who have emigrated have left due to the economic factors on the island of Ireland and should definitely have a say in their native country’s future and who controls their fiscal policy in order to make Ireland a place in which they can have the opportunities they did not have on their emigration should they wish to return.
I feel compelled to ask, as an Irish citizen who was born in Belfast, what about the voting rights of Irish citizens in the North? The fact that the title of the office, the ‘President of Ireland’ does not allow for all citizens of this island to have their say on who that president should be is undemocratic and a complete contradiction.
The current situation on voting rights means that the president in office at this moment, Mary McAleese could not vote for herself were she living in her hometown.
Since the partition of this island, the government in Dublin is seen by many in the North as an institution that is and was supposed to protect Irish citizens in the times of political turmoil. In reality, there was little to no protection or intervention politically, diplomatically or otherwise in the grand scheme of things. In the aftermath of the Good Friday Agreement and the increasingly good community relations, now is the time more than ever for the political institutions to reach out to northern citizens, who expect, and are entitled to expect legal protection, and yet they have no representation. It is essential in the interests of peace and reconciliation to make this happen.
This is not a controversial idea, and it received broad support from the Oireachtas Good Friday Implementation ctte, and has received support from spokespersons from most major parties, including Fine Gael, the SDLP, Sinn Féin and Fianna Fáil.
As long as the franchise of the Irish state extends only as far as Dundalk, the office holder cannot be properly called ' A President of Ireland'

I would love to hear your views on this…

Kind regards........

Contact your local TD and ask him or her to raise it

The address of TDs can be found here;

http://www.oireachtas.ie/viewdoc.asp?fn=/documents/Members_emails/document2.doc

The list of TDs and Senators by Constituency is below.

http://www.oireachtas.ie/members-hist/default.asp?housetype=1&HouseNum=24&disp=mem
http://www.oireachtas.ie/members-hist/default.asp?housetype=0&HouseNum=31&disp=mem

(Senators and TDs email address follow the pattern firstname.lastname@oireachtas.ie)

The below is a sample letter/email to a TD

Dear....
I am writing to ask you to use your position to raise the issue of the
lack of presidential voting rights for Irish citizens in the north. There are hundrers of thousands of Irish Citizens, who are entitled to expect legal protection from the state, yet they have no ability to vote for the President of Ireland. If we can truly call the office the president of Ireland, then surely Irish people living just a few kilometres up the road should have the right to vote for their president.

Mary McAleese grew up in Belfast, if she had remained there she would
have never even got the chance to vote in the election of her
president never mind become one herself. In mnay countries like the
USA where the presidential role is much more powerful anyone with a US
passport can vote no matter where in the world they are but my Irish
neighbour, my cousins, my friends who live just a short trip away on
this very island have no right at all. Please give your support to
this call and raise this issue in the Dáil and elsewhere.

Kind Regards.....

Write in to your newspapers and radios, either as an Ógra activists or as an ordinary citizen and voter. We will be asking all areas to be active on this campaign over the coming time and asking them to conduct actions. This is a small action that any activist can take to highlight this issue and to lobby your Elected reps and the candidates.

Send us back any interesting responses you get, ograsf@hotmail.com