Vote early and vote often

The head quote is attributed variously to three Characters from Chicago: Al Capone, his partner-in-crime Mayor "Big Bill" Thompson or Mayor Richard M. Daley. The latter not to be confused with his son Mayor Richard M. Daley who also headed the city for 20 years.

We came back to Ireland in 1990, having spent the entirety of the 80s recession in the US then UK. The colour of my passport was inconsequential because my sense of identity was nailed to the masthead of the great wonderful Project Europe that became the EU. After the débacle of Brexit, like far too many non-dom Brits, I got all my paper ducks in a row and vindicated my rights to citizenship in 2018. It took a year of time and a mort o' money but my FBR [Foreign Birth Registry] cert came in the post with the sheaf of birth, marriage and death certificates I'd submitted for the FBR audit trail.

A couple of years ago, and still today, we were encouraged to update our details on voter.ie, the electronic register of voting rights. I have issues with my birthday because I appeared just after midnight during British Summer Time [clocks forward] and so am astrologically born the day before. And I have issues with Eircode. But I am also severely institutionalised, so I obeyed and submitted the details. I was a little hacked off when I didn't get a polling card in the run up to the Referendum of March 2024, which made an attempt to reduce the rights of women, under the guise of asserting equality.

I put updating the register and lack of polling card together and went online to verify that a) although the local county council [voting registerers] talks to MyGov.ie [social welfare, tax, driving licences] b) MyGov doesn't talk to the Dept Foreign Affairs which is the gatekeeper of the FBR. And sure enough my PPSN+DoB+Eircode = Nationality, UK. In April, I set to rectifying my status. For voting, it is straight forward: 

• download ERF1.pdf
  
• fill in the boxes
  
• sign 
• submit with photocopy of naturalization papers or FBR

Job done:

Changing nationality seemed to be straight forward after I phoned MyGov central in Carrick-on-Shannon: go to any local office of the Social Welfare/MyGov with your paperwork - you may need to make an appointment.

Accordingly, I phoned the nearest office in B'town (where I had been photographed and whence I had  acquired my Social Welfare = Free Travel card). I explained why I wanted an appointment and got back a wave of alarum and despondency. No no no, Bob, this FBR you're talking about, that won't do at all, you're only at the beginning of a long process of naturalization, when you've got your naturalization papers come back to me. That was but a glitch because the main task [Votes for Olds!] was in train for resolution. But after lunch I phoned Carrick-onShannon again . . .

. . . and got Declan. Yes yes yes, Bob, sure your grandparents were born in Ireland, of course your nationality should be Irish; you make a copy of that FBR and send it to me declan.goodman@welfare.ie and I'll sort it out for you. I should be able to do it this afternoon but sure amn't I in the office tomorrow?

Two hours later Declan emails Thanks for the document, that’s done now.  I also updated your address to Include your Eircode. We still live in a really small country where legacy employees of The State have time to give individual attention to small problems. 10+ years ago, as designated driver, I spend some hours over several visits in ArdKeen hospital. One of the public facing employees had a job which seemed to involve conducting patients and their files from the ante-room of the Xray department into the waiting-room of the Xray department. You may be sure that as ArdKeen puffed itself up to Waterford University Hospital and this kindly lady [was] retired, she wasn't replaced. More paper, more cross-checks, more audits, less care-and-attention for Jo Poiblí.