In the Republic, many contemporary Diasporans are allowed to vote by absentee ballot. While I am an enthusiastic supporter of the Irish language (and speak it as badly as the next Irish person), I do understand the resentment among many English speaking former students of the Republic's Irish language campaign. Making Irish the official language was the right decision, IMO. When you look at other cultures in similar fixes with their languages (ie surrounded by English speakers, English as the language of commerce, etc), Ireland did seem to get it more right than wrong, because the language has come back to a certain extent. You can't say that about very many other languages, particularly in North America, where the native languages have all but disappeared.

Double edged sword, I guess.