‘Home to vote’ could be even bigger for Eighth Amendment referendum

In 2015, while living in London, I started a campaign called Get The Boat 2 Vote, encouraging vote-eligible Irish citizens abroad to participate in the marriage equality referendum.

People booked flights and ferries, took time off work and returned to Ireland, with some coming from as far as Australia in order to be able to have their say.

In the days before the vote, the #HomeToVote hashtag began to trend worldwide and, when the vote was passed, Taoiseach Enda Kenny praised those who "voted with their feet".

On Monday, Táiniste Frances Fitzgerald indicated that we are likely to have a referendum in 2018 on abortion rights in Ireland, following on from the recommendations of the Citizens' Assembly at the weekend.

I’m now living back in Ireland so, assuming the vote goes ahead, I look forward to a more straightforward trip to the polling station this time around. However, the reality is that Ireland’s outdated voting provisions will exclude many citizens abroad from participating.

The circumstances under which an Irish person living abroad is “vote-eligible” are quite narrow. Those who have moved away within 18 months of the ballot are entitled to vote but, in the absence of any provisions for a postal vote or proxy vote, it’s necessary to travel home in order to do so.

By comparison, for last year’s Brexit referendum in the UK, British citizens living abroad for up to 15 years were able to vote and could do so without a journey home.

Despite the inconvenience and expense, I expect we will see many recent emigrants return for any vote on the Citizens’ Assembly’s recommendations and I think the majority of those coming home to vote will be pro-choice.

Already, we've seen an impressive level of organisation among Irish citizens abroad in terms of campaigning for a referendum on the Eighth Amendment, with demonstrations held in dozens of cities around the world in recent months, and a campaign to send Taoiseach Enda Kenny postcards calling for Repeal from all around the world.

Those who travelled home to vote in the marriage referendum and are still living abroad will be ineligible to vote on this occasion, on account of living away for more than eighteen months. However, many of these people are likely to still be listed on the electoral register, so it’s possible that they will travel home anyway and try to vote.

I expect that many Irish abroad who are unable to vote - because they are away too long, or are unable to travel - will want to make their voices heard in the coming months. During the marriage referendum, the Be My Yes campaign saw hundreds of Irish people abroad, unable to vote, urging their friends and family to vote for change. I anticipate a similar effort, perhaps much bigger in scale, if a referendum is held on the Eighth Amendment.

It's quite possible that a vote on abortion rights might now coincide with the proposed referendum on a vote for Irish citizens abroad in presidential elections, which the Taoiseach announced in Washington during his St Patrick's Day visit.I have a suspicion that when we see how many Irish abroad believe they have a stake in the outcome of the former, we'll get a clear sense of how the latter falls spectacularly short in terms of tackling the ways that Ireland disenfranchises its citizens living overseas.

Emigrants should not have to fly thousands of kilometres in order to vote, or be faced with a decision as to whether to vote illegally if a ballot coincides with the last few months of a two-year holiday visa.

The electoral legislation as it stands represents a very narrow and old-fashioned view of citizenship, ignoring the short-term nature of many people’s migration.

Ireland has the highest proportion of citizens living outside the state of all OECD countries. Why then, are citizens overseas given so little regard when it comes to shaping Irish democracy?