Ireland
Capital city — Dublin
Country population
i2019Incarceration rate (per 100,000 inhabit…
Type of government
Human Development Index
Name of authority in charge of the pris…
Total number of prisoners
Prison density
Total number of prison facilities
An NPM has been established
Number and percentage of female prisone…
Incarcerated minors
i08/2016/ World Prison Brief : World Prison Brief, ICPRUntried prisoners
Death penalty is abolished
Right to vote
Overview
Untried prisoners are allowed to vote
yes
Convicted people are allowed to vote
yes
When were inmates granted the right to vote in prison?
Prisoners had a legal right to vote before 2006. The law provided no mechanism to exercise their right. The Electoral (Amendment) Act of 2006 provided a practical framework for prisoners to vote in future elections and referenda.
Prisoners cast their votes
by post
Voting is conducted in all prisons.
Voter turnout rate
1.45 %
Of the 3,987 people in Ireland’s eleven prisons, on 25 May 2018, 58 used their vote. The national turnout was 64.13%. The proportion of those willing to use their right to vote appears to be falling. Nearly 12 percent of prisoners voted in the General Election in 2007, just after getting the right to vote. They were 4.2% in the 2016 General Election.1
Irish Times website, Only 58 prisoners voted in abortion referendum, 15 June 2018. ↩
Organising the vote
Prisoners who applied to vote by post will be sent postal ballot papers at the prison. Prisoners vote in the cells.
Inmates are able to vote in privacy
yes
The Electoral Act of 2006 gives prisoners the right to mark the ballot paper in secret. The installation of voting booths depends, however, on the initiatives of prison staff.
Not that we know of.
Ballot papers are sent back to the “Returning Officer” to be counted.
Cormac Behan writes, in an academic article1 : “A recurrent theme in the discussion about the level of abstention was that many prisoners felt that politicians had neglected them, before and during the election campaign. Interviewees responded that their lack of political knowledge, the absence of party manifestoes, election literature, and personal discussion with candidates militated against the desired outcome – meaningful political engagement – regardless of where the citizen happened to be living at election time”.
Cormac Behan, “Still Entitled to Our Say”: Prisoners’ Perspectives on Politics, The Howard Journal, Vol 51 No 1, February 2012, p. 28. ↩