Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 7 April 2011
66 Deputy John Paul Phelan asked the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the measures he will be taking to allow non-citizens the opportunity to vote if they are living here for ten years or more. [7139/11]
View answerSubject to age and residency requirements, a person's citizenship determines the polls at which he or she is entitled to vote, as follows: all non-citizens are entitled to vote at local elections; non-citizens who are citizens of EU Member States are entitled, in addition, to vote at European Parliament elections; and British citizens may vote in Dáil, European Parliament and local elections. While no agreements are currently in place, electoral law provides that citizens of other EU Member States, with whom Ireland may enter into an agreement to allow each other's citizens to vote in their respective National Parliaments, are also entitled to vote in Dáil elections, and Irish Citizens alone are entitled to vote in Presidential elections and referendums.
While electoral law is subject to ongoing review I have no proposals at present to extend the current arrangements for voting by non-citizens.
