Dublin City Council, Lord Mayor, Oisín Quinn, and the Minister for Justice and Equality, Alan Shatter T.D. launched jointly the Migrant Voters Registration Information Campaign on Monday, 4th November at 9.30 a.m. at the Mansion House.
The Council and the Lord Mayor are working with Forum Polonia and other immigrant organisations in the Dublin area to raise awareness within the migrant community and the broader community on entitlement to vote and how to register to vote. The right of migrants living in Ireland to vote in local elections is quite unique in a European context where such a right is not immediately available to immigrants in many other countries.
Speaking at the launch the Lord Mayor said “Today we encourage all leaders of community groups Irish or migrant based to share this information, promote the website links and get all migrants living in the city to register before November 25th to ensure their right to vote in the upcoming local elections in May 2014.”
The Minister for Justice and Equality, Alan Shatter, said “I call upon people who are not Irish citizens to avail of the opportunity to participate in our society through involvement in the European and local elections, depending on the options that are open to them. I can understand why immigrants may be slow to get involved. They are, perhaps, establishing themselves in their new surroundings and have all the other day-to-day preoccupations associated with that. Or, maybe, they do not as yet have an interest in the cut and thrust of our political life. Still, for the reasons I have mentioned, it is important that everyone takes part and ensures that they are on the register of electors for polling day.”.
Ireland offers all residents, regardless of citizenship, the right to vote in local elections. It is important that all immigrants know of this right and also that they are aware of the process of registering to vote. Dublin City Council encourages everyone to use their vote to be part of the decision making process.