Irish emigrant group campaigns for migrants right to vote

A recently-launched young Irish emigrant group is campaigning for the right to vote in the 2018 Presidential election to be extended to all Irish migrants living overseas.

The group, named ‘We’re Coming Back’, is urging all Irish citizens across the world to raise a glass and toast the cause of emigrant voting. ‘We’re Coming Back’ is a sister group to the ‘We’re Not Leaving’ organisation, a youth movement dedicated to changing Ireland in order to remove the necessity of mass youth immigration for reasons of work.

We’re Coming Back’s goals aren’t restricted to the right for migrants to be able to vote, as they’re also campaigning for representation in the Irish Senate and the right to vote in EU elections for young Irish living overseas. According to campaign member David Burns, at present living and working in Paris after his Irish employer was forced to close down, Irish emigrants are Irish citizens and deserve inclusion in Irish politics.

The group’s focus is that the government has made no attempt to reverse mass emigration amongst Ireland’s young people, and has even decreased the social payment for those under 26, forcing them to seek employment overseas. Young citizens are having problems surviving as well as saving to emigrate on the decreased payments.

David Burns told the Irish media that the Toast to Vote campaign had received huge support from Irish migrants all over the world. Emails, he said, have been pouring in and the response has been fantastic.