Where are the electoral reform proposals?
Tuesday, July 13th, 2010Where are the electoral reform proposals? We know that proposals for emigrant voting rights in presidential elections have been promised as part of the Programme for Government. First we were told that electoral reform proposals would be presented before April, then before summer, and now with the Dail going off for its 12-weeks of summer holidays, we’re told that electoral reform remains a priority for autumn. Good to hear.
Meanwhile in India, serious moves are being made toward bringing to fruition the Indian prime minister’s intention to allow expats to vote in elections back home. The significance of this, of course, is that Indian diaspora policies are widely regarded as being among the most progressive in the world – Ireland has few peers in successful diaspora engagement, but India is one of the few countries that does it better than we do. It would be impossible for our policy makers not to take note, as we are left more and more conspicuously part of a dwindling number of nations that allow expats no voice in their home countries.
Update: Electoral proposal reforms have been announced. Most surprisingly, they did not include the possibility of voting in presidential elections that had been promised.
Does emigration make us sympathetic to immigrants?
Tuesday, July 13th, 2010This editorial on emigration and immigration in the Irish Examiner is way off the mark. It starts off reasonably enough, noting that our “cyclical dependency on emigration is our greatest social failure since the foundation of the state”. It goes on to highlight some of the more painful aspects of emigration. And then it says:
This emotional evisceration has marked Ireland, but it has left us with an understanding of the separation and loss central to economic emigration. That understanding is at the root of the relative ease at which very many of those who came to this country to build new lives found places for themselves and their families. There has been exploitation and it continues today but, by and large, racism has not become a huge issue. It is recognised that we cannot expect the emigrant Irish to find a warm welcome in their new homes, if we do not extend the same generosity to those who choose to live here.
This is a problematic leap: The notion that the people who remain in Ireland and make up the bulk of Irish society have developed a particular empathy with migrants, whether inward or outward, is highly questionable. Many Irish commentators regard the Irish abroad with an attitude of gaping incomprehension. We think so little of our Irish abroad that we take away their right to vote as soon as they emigrate. It is only in the last decade that we took any responsibility for the welfare of our vulnerable citizens abroad – for decades we benefited from the generosity of emigrants with their remittances, while ignoring those who might have needed our help.
And 80% of us responded to an increasing number of immigrants in the country by changing our constitution to remove the automatic entitlement to citizenship of all children born in the State. It took only about a decade of net inward migration to make us alter one of our most basic notions of who can be part of our society. It’s difficult to see any generosity in that move.
And the notion that we in Ireland would seek to treat our own immigrants well in the hope that somehow (through an act of karmic justice, say) our emigrants would find a warmer welcome abroad is just bizarre. Is there any evidence to suggest that we who stay at home contemplate the warmth of the welcome that our young people experience? If we did, perhaps we might be more troubled by the fact that funding to emigrant groups was cut by 14% in the last budget, during a time of rising outward migration.
Government pursues opportunities in Asia through expats
Friday, May 28th, 2010Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin is in Asia this week, and has issued a press release focusing on several outgrowths of the Global Irish Economic Forum held at Farmleigh in September.
Martin attended the first meeting of Asian-based members of the Global Irish Network at Expo Shanghai; the network was announced at the Global Irish Economic Forum at Farmleigh and prior meetings were held in Britain, France, Germany and the UAE.
At that meeting, Martin has announced funding of €135,000 towards a new Farmleigh Fellowship Programme, which provides 25 Irish participants the opportunity to work in Asia for four months, and to participate in a joint MSc degree in Asian Business Management from UCC and Nanyang Business School in Singapore.  The project was developed by a number of Singapore-based businesspeople who were present at the Global Irish Economic Forum, and was a response to the focus placed at that meeting on the need for Irish businesses to increase their access to Asian markets  It will begin in October 2010. An overseas graduate placement programme, a separate initiative, is also being planned.
Martin also announced funding under the Emigrant Support Programme for several Asian-based organisations:
- Ireland-Japan Chamber of Commerce (c. €12,000), which is dedicated to fostering business links between Ireland and Japan
- the Irish Network China (c. €1,100), a Beijing-based organisation fostering cultural, social, and business links between Ireland and China
- Le Chéile, Shanghai (c. €5,597), a social and educational group for Irish emigrants and the Irish diaspora in China, founded 2008.
See the press release on the Department of Foreign Affairs website.
Denial of MEP votes makes global Irish lesser EU citizens
Friday, May 28th, 2010The European Voice Newspaper published a letter I sent in regarding one of the effects of Ireland’s policy of disenfranchising its emigrants. In it I argued that Ireland’s denial of emigrant voting rights effectively leaves Irish citizens disadvantaged as European citizens of a lesser status.
The letter is on the EuropeanVoice.com website as well as in the newspaper. It’s behind a paywall (though it will be available next week for registered users), so here is the text as I submitted it to the paper:
Your article, “The muzzled British diaspora in the EU” (discussed in this article), highlights the plight of British expats who cannot vote after fifteen years abroad. Irish citizens have it even worse: we lose all rights to vote as soon as we move abroad.
The situation also means that there are two tiers of European citizenship: most citizens of EU member states are entitled to elect MEPs no matter where in the world they live. Irish citizens, however, lose their rights to representation at EU level if they move to a non-EU country. Surely there should be some way to ensure equality of European representation for European citizens?
It’s my understanding that the EU takes no interest in the expat voting policies of individual nations. It seems to me that when you have a parliamentary body representing citizens of an entity such as the EU, however, there should be equal access among citizens of that entity to representation as a matter of fairness. I wouldn’t be surprised if this becomes a larger issue in the years to come, particularly set against the current global context of increasing diaspora engagement and the rising number of nations allowing their emigrants to vote.
I’ll be talking more about these issues next month, as one of the keynote speakers at the Europeans Throughout the World conference in Bratislava.
See the letter on EuropeanVoice.com.
Ireland marks National Famine Commemoration Day on Sunday
Friday, May 14th, 2010Ireland’s second National Famine Commemoration day will take place this Sunday, 16 May, with a wide range of events marking the day.
The main event in Ireland will be a formal State ceremony at the National Famine Memorial in Murrisk, Co. Mayo. The event will include the National flag and military honors, and wreath-laying ceremonies. There will also be music, readings and prayers, tree planting, a candle-lighting ceremony, and a minute of silent reflection. Everyone is welcome.
This state event has been complemented by a week of activities organised by the Murrisk Development Association and Mayo County Council. Events are aimed at both paying tribute to those who died or suffered during the Great Irish Famine,and also with raising awareness of the plight of those suffering the effects of famine globally now.
The week-long series of events included literary and musical programmes and lectures. Monday’s event was “Writing the Famine in Fiction and Song”, with Brendan Graham speaking in Holy Trinity Church, with special guest singer Cathy Jordan and Feargal Murray on the piano. On Tuesday, Michael Gibbons spoke on “The Legacy of the Famine on the Landscape”. Catherine Marshall spoke on visual representations of the Famine on Wednesday. Today, Professor Peter Gray will be in the Museum of Country life speaking on religion and the Great Famine, while tonight William Henry will speak on “The Horror of Famine”.
Tomorrow, Bronach Joyce will lead a historical walking tour highlighting aspects of famine in Westport and Clew Bay. John O’Shea of GOAL will speak tomorrow night on countries afflicted by famine today.
Today, students in schools across the country had a one-minute silent reflection on the Famine and hunger worldwide. An information pack for schools has been produced by Trocaire and Gorta for teachers who want to explore the links between Ireland’s famine and famine in the modern world.
In addition, the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs has written to all sporting organisations asking them to mark the commemoration by holding a one-minute silence at all events. Minister Pat Carey said,
“I understand that this was a great success last year and had a real impact on both participants and spectators alike. Sport holds such a strong and respected position in Irish society and I would encourage all sporting organisations to use their influence to pay tribute and acknowledge the losses suffered in Ireland as a result of the famine. Unfortunately, famine is not unique to Ireland and many countries across the globe still suffer from famine and hunger today. It is important that in acknowledging our own history we continue to raise awareness of the plight of these peopleâ€?.
For more information, visit the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs National Famine Commemoration Day website.
The Catholic Bishops have also issued a statement marking the Famine Commemoration Day. Visit the CatholicBishops.ie website for more information.
New York is supposed to be the site of a parallel event but I’ve been unable to dig up any information on that – I’ll post that if I find it.
Is it our birthright to stay?
Thursday, May 13th, 2010I happened upon some thought-provoking words this evening, as I read the blog of a man who has been trying to make a living for himself in Ireland. The blog is written by Alan Brophy of Wicklow, and it’s called, “Alan tries to start a business“. The domain name for the site, however is “alanandneiltrytostartabusiness.blogspot.com” – because, as his blurb explains, there were two of them in it before one of them had to up sticks:
In this Blog, Alan and Neil two unemployed engineers, chart their progress through the daunting process of trying to set up a company, get off the dole and avoid having to emigrate. Unfortunately, Neil has had to leave Ireland and is now living in the Land of Big Skies and wide open spaces, Canada. Alan’s still here and its difficult going but if this project gets off the ground, it will be well worth it.
Tonight, Alan has written that he has given up. “I will call it a day on the “Alan tries to start a business” business,” he writes. And it looks like Alan may be following Neil out of the country: “So what now, look for a job elsewhere, I hear Saudi is quite temperate at this time of year….not,” he jokes.
So Alan sounds like he’s in pretty decent humour despite his frustrated hopes.
It was words he wrote a week ago – before he gave up, when, he said, he was “on the verge of tears” over the frustrations he’d faced in his “attempt to stay in Ireland, not be a burden on the state and raise a family” that I thought were particularly powerful:
I seriously think that the powers that be in this country would rather I along with everyone else, Teachers, Guards, Nurses, Lower paid Civil Servants, unemployed construction workers, would just F off and don’t rock the boat. Don’t be moaning about unfair and immoral pensions and perks, they want us to just go away and not be annoying them.
One of things behind try to start a company is that being unemployed gives you time to think, gives you time to make realisations. One of those realisations was that I have a birthright. This birthright was gifted to me and mine, to all of you. This birthright is the right to live, work, earn and raise a family in the country of my birth. Like all of the best gifts, it has responsibiliies attached, they are; to be a decent human being, to always do your best, to be moral, to be ethical, to be the very best you can be and to pass on this birthright with all of its benefits and responsibilities to our children. This birthright was gifted by the men and women who went before us, not just the men and women who made blood sacrifices, but the men and women who worked 7 days a week 16 hours a day to make this country worthy of those blood sacrifices. This gift should not to be given or taken away, I’m trying really hard to hold on to it, I don’t want to let it go and I don’t want the powers that be to take it away from me. We all need to fight to hold on to it, we all need to fight for it, we need to be everything that we can be so that this country can be everything it can be.
I’d like to think that Alan is right – that anyone who wants to stay in Ireland should be able to feel he or she has a place here, and a right to a future – but does anyone believe he is? Is it naive to believe that citizens of a modern European country have a right to expect that emigration would be seen by our leaders as something more significant than a way to keep unemployment under 14%? Â If our politicians actually believed in the right of ordinary people to a life in their own country, is there anything they might be doing differently?
And I realise that I’m a tireless bore on this point, but if Alan – who clearly is doing everything he can to stay – winds up having to leave the country, who is it going to serve when he loses his vote and, with it, all power to influence whether he and his children might actually have a future in this country? Is it his fellow ordinary citizens, facing the same struggle he’s lost, who will benefit?
Fifteen years ago I read a description of the emigrants who had left this country in the 1980s as “rats off a sinking ship”; the analogy disgusted me then and still does. Because we all know that the rats are still on the ship, and they’re still eating the cheese.
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