Unlike over 110 other countries, the Irish who live abroad do not retain the right to vote in Irish elections. There are no absentee ballots for them, and even if they return home to vote, they aren’t allowed to do so unless they live primarily in Ireland most of the time. This disenfranchises as many as 70 million Irish living abroad, compared with just 4.5 million living in country. However, when it comes to actual Irish citizens (as opposed to merely those like me with Irish descent), that number drops dramatically to 3 million. Still, that’s 40 percent of the votes, which could certainly be decisive in any national election. And the problem is that people are fleeing Ireland (1,000 a week) because of the mismanagement of it, presumably people who might well prefer to retain a say in things in the hopes of ever returning.
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