Opinion

Jim Gibney: Unity of purpose in campaign for presidential voting rights

Jim Gibney
Jim Gibney Jim Gibney

There are occasions in the affairs of a nation when mood and issue gently collide and a momentum is set in train which has the potential to fundamentally change the nation’s direction and perhaps its destiny.

I suspect, although I did not experience it, this happened when the marriage equality referendum was successful in 2015; it certainly happened with the Eighth Amendment referendum earlier this year and I experienced that remarkable result - difficult though that issue was for many people whether voting for or against.

For the people of Ireland life changed forever as a result of both referenda and the significance of both results is they are continuing to shape events, nationally, and we saw that last week when the British House of Commons voted to introduce same-sex marriage and reform of women’s health care services into the north in October should no executive have been formed.

The referenda results in the south show that the will of the people expressed in a decisive manner, has the capacity to lift, ‘feather-like’ deep-seated problems which were burdensome and unmoveable.

Last week in the Oireachtas I witnessed another ‘little pebble’ being dropped into the referendum pool, when an impressive gathering of TDs and Seanadoirí, from all the main parties, and Independents, informally kick-started the campaign for the people of the north and the Irish diaspora to be allowed to vote in presidential elections.

The unity of purpose to ‘win the referendum’ expressed by those in the room, who represent five-sixths of the people of this nation, was impressive.

The lobby group, ‘Voting for Irish Citizens Abroad’ spoke about the Irish abroad needing to be part of what the taoiseach called the ‘Global Irish Nation’ and voting for Ireland’s president – the symbolic head of that ‘global nation’; a figure who connects the people of the north and the diaspora, in a practical and emotional way, to Ireland.

The minister for the Irish Diaspora and International Development, Ciarán Cannon, urged the meeting not to take the electorate for granted, that this was an ‘opportunity of a generation’ and a lot of hard work needed to be done to win it.

Michelle O’Neill, vice-president of Sinn Féin, said there was a ‘tried-and-tested’ approach used in both referenda and it should be used again - it was the people, their voices and experiences which won both. The Chicago-based Seanadóir Billy Lawless, appointed by the government to represent the Irish diaspora, said the campaign should be clear and simple with one message and one voice.

A few hundred yards away in the Seanad chamber, Seanadóir Niall Ó Donnghaile, who I work with, triggered a very interesting debate about ‘new Ireland’ voices being given the space to be heard in the chamber following the comments from Baroness Eileen Paisley, actor James Nesbitt and the Rev Harold Good.

They were commenting on the need for new language and ideas and the need for people to speak their minds without fear, about Ireland and its future.

Seanadóir Ó Donnghaile’s remarks about the special role the Seanad could play in the debate received a positive response from the Fine Gael leader of the Seanad Jerry Buttimer, Michael McDowell and Sinn Fein’s leader in the Seanad Rose Conway-Walsh who said the Seanad “needed to play its full part” in the debate.

Buttimer supported McDowell’s call for the Seanad to structure its contribution to the public debate and he suggested a ‘joint endeavour’ of the Dáil and Seanad through the setting up of a ‘Joint Oireachtas Committee’ and if that is not possible then the Seanad should ‘consider going it alone’.

The Seanad has a credible track record of ‘going it alone’ – it produced a very significant Brexit report shortly after the Brexit decision, which provided important direction at a time when the uncertainty at government, party and business level was bordering on frantic; it supported a ban on goods from the Occupied Terrorities, and it supported the calls for justice for the ‘Hooded Men’.

The Seanad is an ideal arena for debating sensitive issues in a considered and reflective way. The Seanadoirí are serious people and Seanadóir Buttimer’s response is worthy of immediate action after the summer recess.