Draw Breath

I've had a long-standing interest in (and affection for, as it happens), the muddled position of Irish citizens in the UK. Under the Ireland Act 1949 2 (1) (which regularised the relationship between the UK and the new Irish Republic as was), while Ireland is designated an independent state it was not classed as a foreign state. And, given this, as the British Nationality Act 1981 51 (4) has it, "'alien,' in relation to any time after commencement, means a person who is neither a Commonwealth citizen nor a British protected person nor a citizen of the Republic of Ireland."

This has been updated somewhat by the Good Friday Agreement (pdf), allowing for effective dual citizenship for people born in Northern Ireland with at least one British or Irish parent with indefinite leave to remain (the "Irish or British or both" bit being in Article 1 (vi) and the restriction to people born in NI etc being in Annex 2). To the best of my knowledge, previously Irish citizens in NI were given access to Westminster elections through the Ireland and British Nationality Acts. The GFA gives them a status that distinguishes them from Irish citizens born in the ROI.

Anyway, I read Lord Goldsmith's report on citizenship (pdf) last night and it's very interesting indeed. I think the people who, following the BBC and others, have focused on oaths of allegiance are in fact missing what is on the whole a well-considered and provocative document (with a good outline of the Common Travel Area on pages 25-26). Nothing beats reading the real thing...

One interesting element concerns Goldsmith's proposal that the right to vote in Westminster elections be restricted to UK citizens. The whole discussion of voting is on pages 74-76 of the report and is well worth reading in the beginning as a good outline of the normative argument for voting (or 'voting as sacrament' as Harry Brighouse called it on Crooked Timber last week). Essentially, Goldsmith argues that the 'blurring' of rights and duties between citizens and non-citizens has reduced the value of citizenship. Restricting the right to vote in Westminster elections to citizens is one component that will restore the value of British citizenship (all EU states allow other EU nationals to vote in local and European elections. Hence the focus here on Westminster polls).

The second part of the section relates to the unique position of Irish citizens. Goldsmith sets the issue and his proposed solution out in paragraphs 20 and 21, which I quote in full:

there are two particular issues in relation to Irish citizens. First, the Good Friday Agreement confirms the right of the people of Northern Ireland to take either British or Irish citizenship or both. Anyone who exercises their right under the Agreement to identify themselves as Irish and to take up Irish citizenship should not lose their right to vote in Westminster elections as a result of any change made to restrict voting rights to UK citizens. Hence it would be necessary to distinguish this group of Irish citizens from others. I have not been able to examine the different practical means of doing this but this would have to be part of further consideration of the issue. My proposal is dependent on finding a satisfactory means of distinguishing the two categories in a way that did not affect the position of those exercising rights under the Good Friday Agreement.

Secondly, Ireland is of course a member state of the EU as well. This means that Irish citizens would retain the voting rights that other citizens of EU member states have in the UK. Hence the extent of the change that I am proposing as it relates to Irish citizens is to restrict their right to vote in Westminster elections, while retaining their right to vote in European, local and devolved elections. Also, as I have said, the restriction of the right to vote in Westminster elections should be phased, so that no person who is already resident or registered to vote in the UK loses the right to vote.

So Goldsmith proposes phasing in a system where Irish citizens would have their current right to vote in Westminster elections removed. That said, people who exercise their right to identify themselves as Irish under the GFA and who take up Irish citizenship would not have the right to vote removed. At the very least, as Goldsmith says, this poses a practical dilemma. As I read it the question comes down to how one can to distinguish between Irish citizens born in NI and Irish citizens by virtue of ROI statutes without undermining the citizenship privileges of the former.

That is: how, practically speaking, can the distinction be made without placing an undue burden on Irish citizens born in Northern Ireland, by say asking for proof of birthplace? Can this be done without producing a barrier (compared to their fellow voters) on people voting in Westminster elections? Would this be solved if voting required possession of some sort of revamped I.D. card and how would that go down on the Falls? Would the Irish state respond by only allowing (assuming the distinction was possible) British citizens born in Northern Ireland a vote in the Republic?

Second and perhaps less importantly, if the state takes the route of sharpening that boundary between UK citizens and non-citizens, and Irish citizens born in NI are kept inside the UK citizenship fence, how will this emphasis on the UK-ness of the political act of voting sit with the comfort of NI's Irish citizens in taking part in the Westminster vote?

And that's without even thinking of the half a million odd people in the UK who were born in the Irish republic - by some degree the largest cohort born outside the UK. Although Goldsmith envisages a phasing in period so that nobody loses privileges they possess, if the stir caused by the 1981 British Nationality Act (as evidenced by this Seanad discussion) is anything to go by, there's going to be an interesting discussion about the position of the Irish in the UK in the next few years.

Personally, I would be sad to see the blurring between Irish and British nationality disappearing. Unacknowledged as it was for the most part, I thought it was the most accurate appraisal of our cultural and social ties. How strange that, just as the Irish take tentative steps to reconcile themselves with their British past (and present to a degree), the very British citizenship solution is ditched.

Update: I see Mick has more on this on Slugger and on CIF. There's also a few links and a discussion courtesy of Michael here.