Sinn Féin’s Seanad Leader Senator Niall Ó Donnghaile has called on the Irish Government to urgently set the date for the long-promised referendum on Presidential Voting Rights. 

Speaking after submitting a motion to the Seanad calling on government to act, Seanadóir Ó Donnghaile said:

“When first elected to the Seanad in 2016 the first item of business I moved was a motion calling for a date for the voting rights referendum to be set; despite many false dawns and promised dates I again have to table a similar motion in 2020.

“All three government parties have committed to this referendum in the Programme for Government; in 2013 the constitutional convention voted 78% in favour of the right to extend the vote, in September last year the previous government published the draft legislation on holding this referendum and that Bill must be brought before the new Seanad and Dáil and a date urgently set.

“One way we can have ‘a shared island’ is to ensure all citizens are enfranchised and afforded the rights they are entitled to and long-promised.”