No love for England or Wales post-Brexit.
After its creation last year, the Joint Committee on Public Petitions is responsible for receiving and considering petitions from members of the public. This system was established to allow greater citizen interaction with the parliamentary system on matters of general public concern or interest.
Only one signature is needed to submit a petition and they’re all admissible, provided they adhere to a strict set of criteria and pass certain guidelines. TDs will today consider a bid for a United Ireland – which also involves unification with Scotland.
Oireachtas petitions committee will tomorrow consider a petition to "extend offer of National Unification to Northern Ireland and Scotland"
— Gavan Reilly (@gavreilly) November 14, 2016
As reported by Today FM, the petition asks members to “extend an offer of national unification” to Scotland. As you may know, the majority of voters in Northern Ireland (55.8%) and Scotland (62%) voted to remain in the EU while England (53.4%) and Wales (52.5%) voted to leave.
The Committee, in considering a petition may also:
- refer the petition to any other Committee with a request for further consideration and report back to the Committee;
- refer the petition to the Ombudsman, another Ombudsman or a regulatory public body or a body established for the purpose of redress.
Following consideration of any oral and/or written evidence received, the Committee may make a decision on what further action it wishes to take. This action includes reporting to the Dáil/Seanad with recommendations, including a request that the report be debated by the Dáil/Seanad.
If the Committee considers that no further action is required the petition will be closed.
Granted, it’s highly unlikely that this campaign will get past the Oireachtas committee – previous petitions have included banning Donald Trump from Ireland, putting Conor McGregor on the €1 coin and calling for My Lovely Horse to be entered into the Eurovision – but it should make for an interesting chat.
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