An initiative by a refugee running for election in Co Clare has resulted in over 400 asylum-seekers and refugees registering to vote in the local elections for Ennis Town Council, writes Gordon Deegan.
Last September, Nigerian-born medical doctor Dr Taiwo Matthew (41), said he would stand in the June local elections.
Since announcing his candidature, Dr Matthew has urged other members of the immigrant community to register to vote - in the local elections all asylum-seekers are allowed to register. The newly-published electoral register for Ennis shows that over 400 refugees or asylum-seekers have registered to vote. Dr Matthew said yesterday: "It is a good development to have so many of the immigrant population registered to vote in the election. It is a reflection of the effort I have put in with local agencies to mobilise the immigrant population."
He was confident he would secure votes across all sections of the community. "I believe that I will get elected, and that the community will be the better for it. The Ennis community has been very, very good to me, and I feel indebted and humbled and I want to do all I can to improve it."
The father of three, who has secured residency in Ireland, added: "I don't see myself as an outsider; I have been in this community for well over four years. The community has been so good to me that without its support I couldn't possibly have survived and lived here."
In the last local election in Ennis, the last councillor to be elected secured just 242 first preference votes, being elected after the 11th count with 454 votes. Ms Orla Ní Eilí, of the Irish Refugee Council, said yesterday: "For many asylum-seekers it may be the first time that they will have voted in any election, and is a tremendous privilege that sometimes we don't exercise because we are maybe jaded from politics."
Ms Ní Eilí said the numbers of immigrants registering reflected the vested interest they have in how their local community would be governed, and was a reminder to the elected members that they also represent the immigrant community.
Ennis Green Party councillor Mr Donal O'Bearra said: "The more people vote, the more representative of society as a whole the elected members will be."