Votes for emigrants of 20 years proposed in document

IRISH citizens living abroad for up to 20 years will be entitled to elect three members to the Seanad, according to a consultation paper on emigrants' voting rights to be published today.

A person must also have been resident in the State for a minimum of 10 years prior to emigration to qualify as an emigrant elector. The Government estimates that it will cost between £3.55 million and £10.3 million a year to implement its proposals after a referendum.

The Minister for the Environment, Mr Howlin, has received Cabinet approval for the publication of the consultation paper on voting rights for emigrants because of the complexities involved in drawing up proposals for a referendum to change the Constitution.

The holding of a referendum to allow for the election of three emigrants to the Seanad is promised in the Programme for Government. It is now understood, however, that the Government has decided not to proceed with such a single referendum. The question is expected to be put to the people in tandem with the referendum on Cabinet confidentiality and, possibly, bail later in the year.

The wording for the constitutional amendment, published in today's consultation paper, would enable provision to be made by law for the election of three members of the Seanad by Irish citizens resident outside the State who were formerly resident in the State. Three of the Taoiseach's 11 nominees would be directly elected emigrants.

Under the proposals for legislation, Mr Howlin is expected to provide for the three members to be elected by emigrant electors voting in a single constituency. Once the first register of electors is drawn up and numbers and distribution of the electorate is known, the Minister wall be empowered to divide the emigrant electorate into two or three constituencies by order.

The first registration and nomination papers will be available from Irish diplomatic and consular missions and other "appropriate places".

A candidate will be permitted to nominate not more than two replacement candidates at an election. It is also proposed that casual vacancies among emigrant senators will be filled by the replacement candidates. By elections will not be held.

The consultation paper attempts to spell out the cost implications of the proposed arrangements for Seanad representation for emigrants. The cost would be incurred through establishing and maintaining the annual register of electors conducting the elections and the salaries, travel and subsistence expenses of elected members.

The overall cost, the paper states, will depend on the number of emigrant citizens who register as electors and the country of residence of the representatives they elect. There is no comparable existing electoral arrangement which could provide a good guide to costings.

The cost of the scheme over the five year life of the Seanad could range from £3.55 million to £10.3 million, according to the Minister. It is understood that a potential 900,000 electors would come within the category of emigrants to be given votes.

Two assumptions underlie the Minister's costings. Assuming an electorate of 50,000, a total of £3.55 million, which would be made up of annual registration costs of £550,000, election costs of £500,000 and members' annual travel and subsistence expenses of £60,000. With an electorate of 500,000, the cost would be £10.3 million, made up of annual registration costs of £1 million, election costs of £5 million and members' annual travel and subsistence expenses of £60,000.

The £60,000 a year travel and subsistence costs are based on the assumption of one UK representative recouped for weekly return trips during Seanad sittings and one representative from both the US and Australia, recouped for eight round trips a year, monthly return trips when the Senate is sitting.