Sir, – I am an Irish citizen, born and raised in the Republic of Ireland. I worked in the 1970s in various counties in Ireland ended up living in Co Fermanagh, where I still live. As I sit at my kitchen window I am looking across the fields to Cavan, about 10 miles as the crow flies. I get The Irish Times e-paper and listen to RTÉ. I find it very frustrating over the years that I cannot vote in matters that concern my family members and that concern me as a citizen.
Surely people living in Northern Ireland, especially after the Belfast Agreement, should have a vote if they want one?
I would go further and say our diaspora should equally have a vote, at least the first generation who actually left for whatever reason. We pay lip service to the diaspora and talk about encouraging them back, while we don’t allow them to have any say or influence in how the Constitution works. We can even have a president from Northern Ireland, but the common people don’t get to have a say. Time for a change! – Yours, etc,
ANN McDERMOTT,
My boyfriend’s parents are generally kind, loving people – but they keep spouting bigoted opinions
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Enniskillen,
Co Fermanagh.