Letter: Nationalists and Alliance cite the 1998 Belfast Agreement to justify extending Irish presidential elections to Northern Ireland, yet they breach the spirit of that deal

I see that nationalists have resurrected their demand to extend Southern Irish presidential elections into Northern Ireland.

Aontu have submitted a Bill to the Dail and Sinn Fein tabled a motion for debate in the Assembly, which – aided by Alliance – was passed.

When unionists negotiated the Belfast Agreement in 1998 one of their main achievements was to rein in and circumscribe the limits of the Republic of Ireland's interference in Northern Ireland.

The Anglo-Irish Agreement was scrapped, removing the Republic's consultative role in internal NI affairs. The Republic's irredentist territorial claim was removed. Cross-border bodies were limited in scope to areas for sensible co-operation, accountable to the assembly, and subject to a unionist veto. The 'totality' of north/south relationships was to be dealt with under a new British/Irish Agreement.

How disingenuous it is, then, for nationalists and Alliance to cite the Belfast Agreement in their arguments in support of an irredentist demand. The extension of southern elections into Northern Ireland is supported by nationalists because they believe it will orient our politics in an all-Ireland direction. With so many Republic of Ireland citizens living in Northern Ireland, Southern parties would feel obliged to campaign in this part of the UK; there would be canvassing; we would have election posters, political advertising and no doubt enthusiastic coverage from local media.

There would then be further demands: for 'speaking rights' in the Dail for Northern Ireland MPs. This kind of interference would clearly go way beyond what was agreed in the Belfast Agreement as the totality of north/south relationships, and would be contrary to the 'spirit' of that agreement: something about which we know nationalists are always concerned.

Nationalists attempt to frame this particular demand in terms of 'rights' for citizens, arguing that the Republic is an exception in not allowing overseas voting. What this argument fails to acknowledge is that the Republic's citizenship laws are exceptional. I am aware of no other country (except perhaps Russia in respect of eastern Ukraine) that extends citizenship as of right to all residents of part of an adjacent state. Other countries that allow overseas voting mostly do so for expats – people who have moved abroad: not to hundreds of thousands of people who have never previously lived in the country, as would be the case with Republic of Ireland citizens in Northern Ireland. The citizenship argument is further exposed by the fact that neither Aontu nor Sinn Fein are asking for the vote to be extended to actual expats, or Irish citizens living outside the island of Ireland.

Of course, the franchise for elections in the Republic is a matter solely to be decided by people currently living in that jurisdiction – first by the Dail and ultimately by referendum. We must rely, therefore, on the good sense of the majority of our neighbours to resist these demands.

They will no doubt wish to consider if they want their politics to become influenced by an additional 250,000 Sinn Fein voters.

Mr JDJ, By email