28 Jan - 11 Feb 2011 Issue 2 - Volume 12 CEMETERY SERVICES & MAINTENANCE
Abrodella Concrete Concrete Pumped, Placed and Finished
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Domestic & Industrial Floors / Rafts / Tanks
Laser Screeding
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PAGE 10
MAYO WOMAN PRESIDENT OF CGA
PAGE 8
DONEGAL’S COLEMAN SIGNS WITH PAGE 12 EVERTON
Emigrants should have a vote
General Election looms but no voice for the Irish abroad
TOLCO ANTIQUES HEADFORD ROAD, GALWAY TEL: (091) 751146
Great Annual Antique Auction Headford Road Premises - Sunday 30th January 2011, 2pm Sharp. Viewing all day Saturday and from 12.30pm on day of sale. Tea and refreshments served all day.
Prop. Tom & Breda O’Loughlin Serving Galway in the antique trade since 1971
T
he date is set, the reckoning comes for the government, and the people will have their say. The most anticipated election in the history of the state is now set for February 25th and the people are chomp-
ing at the bit to give their verdict on 14 years of government by Fianna Fail. Everyone in the country has a reason, personal or ideological, to cast their vote, but perhaps no one looks forward to the election more than those most affected, our emigrants.
Royal Theatre proprietor named Mayo Person of the year - see page 6
However, many of those emigrants might be surprised to learn that come Election Day they would be committing electoral fraud, and face a prison sentence of up to two years, if they attempt to vote. Yes indeed, any person not resident
in Ireland as of September 1st 2010, will not be eligible to vote in this election. So the many tens of thousands who have been forced to leave Ireland because of the recession will not be allowed give their verdict. This scandalous injustice heaped upon the wounds of those already forced to leave hearth and home in search of work means that many of our citizens, though only gone little more than five months have lost their right to vote and have been denied their rights, like criminals. This situation makes us rather unique in the western world, where for the most part a right to vote is linked to holding a passport. In Britain, passport holders can vote from abroad. Indeed if Ireland and Northern Ireland were ever to unify we could find ourselves in a situation where most of the north could vote in British elections in perpetuity, yet an northerner who moved to Britain wouldn’t be able to vote in an Irish election after a few months. In total 110 countries allow passport holders to retain their vote and in the EU only Greece has a similar policy to ours and even they are changing this following a ruling in France which deemed it in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights. Continued on Page 2
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