Irish People In UK 'Could Decide Referendum' - FG

Irish people living in the UK have been urged to "get involved" in the last week before the Brexit referendum on 23 June.

Speaking at the launch of the ninth edition of European Movement Ireland's Green Book, a guide to living and work in the European Affairs sector, Fine Gael Senator Neale Richmond said Irish people could "decide the outcome of the referendum".

"Almost 4 million Irish people can vote in the upcoming Referendum; this includes the 800,000 Irish citizens living in the UK entitled to vote, the people of Northern Ireland, the 300,000 UK citizens living in Ireland and the hundreds of thousands of first generation Irish emigrants, like many of my own family members, that live in the UK. This voting bloc, the Irish vote, can decide the outcome of the Referendum," Senator Richmond said.

"Membership of the EU has done much for Ireland and the UK, a career in European Affairs is a great option for many Irish young graduates and experts.

"Employing more than 50,000 officials, the European institutions serve more than 505 million people across the 28 Member States.

"Ireland has always punched well above its weight at EU level with a history of providing officials of excellent repute including a European Parliament President, the two most recent Secretaries General of the European Commission and the current European Ombudsman.

"In order to maintain this level of Irish influence in the EU we need young people to strongly consider a career directly in the EU institutions or a related field.

"These continued opportunities, however, strongly depend on the continuing viability of the EU. For that we need the people of the UK to vote to remain in the EU next week. 

"The Irish vote in this Referendum is hugely significant and the Irish can decide the Brexit Referendum. In the final week of the campaign, I am pleading with Irish people to contact friends, family, colleagues, clients and everyone else to ask them to vote for the UK to remain in the EU." 

(MH/LM)