Election 2016: The 275,000 living here with no say

Almut Schlepper has always described herself as a German living in Ireland. "That's my identity," says the recently retired lecturer. "But I've been here for 36 years."

On Friday morning Schlepper’s children will make the short journey to the nearby school hall to cast their votes in the general election. Their mother, however, who is originally from Berlin, is not legally entitled to vote in Irish elections.

“You feel disenfranchised, especially when people come to your door, they know from the voters register that you don’t have a vote. They don’t really take you into consideration.”

Since moving to Ireland nearly four decades ago, Schlepper has been actively involved in a number of campaigns, from abortion to citizenship, but has often felt “awkward” when writing to ministers and lobbying politicians.

"My name is so obviously foreign, I think they don't take you seriously if you don't have a vote. I think everyone should have the vote where they live. I can still vote in Germany but this is where I pay taxes, for health insurance and for access to education."

Little interest

She says politicians running in the election are only thinking about short-term results and have little to no interest in the voting rights of EU citizens living in Ireland for the long term.

“If you pay taxes, if you pay health insurance, if you even pay property tax, it should be your right to vote.”

Schlepper is one of the estimated 274,505 European Union citizens living in Ireland today who will not be able to vote in Friday's election. Under Ireland's general election rules, EU citizens may vote in European and local elections but not in general elections or referendums.

According to the 2011 census, there are 386,764 EU citizens living in Ireland, including 112,259 UK citizens. Unlike their European neighbours, UK citizens are entitled to vote in Ireland’s general elections. They can also vote in European and local elections but cannot vote in presidential elections. Non-EU citizens can only vote in local elections.

"I think it's singularly unfair that Irish people living abroad can't vote," says Steve Bierley who lives in Co Galway. "As a UK citizen I find that unfair. I don't see why they can't vote while I can."

Bierley, who moved to Ireland in 2010, will be voting in an Irish general election for the first time this Friday. He is busy figuring out the proportional representation electoral system ahead of polling day, while reading up on the policies of his local constituents.

“Voting is part and parcel of living in a country and wanting to be a part of it. Wherever you are, if you have the opportunity to vote you should do it. A lot of people fought very hard for us to get our votes.”

Wendy Cox, who has lived in Dublin for 44 years, has always been an active voter.

“Whatever happens at government level here affects my day-to-day life,” says Cox who came to Ireland from Manchester when she was 27.

“You are a European citizen. You pay your taxes here, you children go to school here. Every government decision affects you. Why would you not want to have a voice?”

Cox says serious consideration should be given to extending the vote to EU citizens who have lived in Ireland for a set period of time.

“It’s a very odd situation now we have free movement of people and many are settled in another European country other than the one they have citizenship in. Do we really want everyone to be changing citizenship to participate in democracy?”