Voting and the British in Ireland

Sir, – In the context of the elections to the European Parliament, nobody is mentioning the British in Ireland.

As the UK hadn’t left the EU in 2019, the adult proportion of the then 100,000 British permanently resident in Ireland, voted in the EU parliamentary election in that year. This time, we have been removed from the register and will turn up to the polls only to elect our local councillors.

Given the vast size of the European constituencies, our removal is unlikely to affect the outcome but in areas like Donegal and Cork (10 per cent of the population of Skibbereen is British, for example), there will be fewer votes to count. There is also the prospect of delay at polling stations as confused Brits wonder why they only get one ballot paper and their German citizen neighbour gets two!

Brexit really is the “gift that keeps on giving”. – Is mise,