Vol. 445 No. 9
53 Mr. Creed asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will recommend to his fellow EU Ministers for Foreign Affairs that Irish citizens living in other member states be afforded voting rights in local elections as is permitted in Ireland. [1398/94]
55 Mr. Deenihan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will recommend to his fellow EU Ministers for Foreign Affairs that Irish citizens living in another member state be afforded voting rights in local elections as is permitted in Ireland. [1401/94]
60 Mr. Nealon asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will recommend to his fellow EU Ministers for Foreign Affairs that Irish citizens living in other member states be afforded voting rights in local elections as is permitted in Ireland. [1399/94]
90 Mr. McGinley asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will recommend to his fellow EU Ministers for Foreign Affairs that Irish citizens living in other member states be afforded voting rights in local elections as is permitted in Ireland. [1400/94]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 53, 55, 60 and 90 together.
Paragraph 1 of Article 8b of the EC Treaty which was inserted by the Maastricht Treaty provides that every citizen of the Union residing in a member state of which he is not a national shall have the right to vote and stand as a candidate at municipal elections in the member state in which he resides, under the same conditions as nationals of that state. Adult residents in Ireland have had this right regardless of nationality for over 30 years.
The Treaty also provides that this right shall be exercised subject to detailed arrangements to be adopted before 31 December 1994 by the Council, acting unanimously on a proposal from the Commission and after consulting the European Parliament; these arrangements may provide for derogations where warranted by problems.
In February 1994, the Commission presented a draft Directive setting out the detailed arrangements for the implementation of the rights provided in Article 8b (1). This draft Directive is under consideration by the Council of Ministers and is due to be considered by the European Parliament at its next session. I expect that the Directive will be adopted by the end of the year as provided for in the Treaty. Once the Directive is in force, member states will be obliged to implement the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with the Directive before I January 1996. Irish citizens will then be entitled to stand and vote in municipal elections in the member states of which they are resident in accordance with the terms of the Directive.
