COMMITTEE ON THE CONSTITUTION:THE RIGHT to vote in national elections should be extended to established immigrants who have been granted long-term residence status, an Oireachtas committee heard yesterday.

Fidèle Mutwarasibo of the Immigrant Council of Ireland said almost 15 per cent of the State's workforce were immigrants who had "no voice or say" in Irish affairs at national level.

"This situation does not just give rise to the moral questions related to representation but also to practical ones. Exclusion and denial of a voice can have negative consequences in terms of self-enclosed and marginalised groups emerging," he said.

This "democratic deficit" could be overcome by extending the franchise in national elections to those who had secured long-term residence status, which is available to immigrants from outside the European Economic Area who have been legally resident in the State for five years or more. Similarly, EU nationals and their family members are eligible for permanent residence status after a five-year period of uninterrupted residence in the State.

Addressing the Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Constitution, Denise Charlton, chief executive of the council, suggested that shortcomings in the citizenship application process were hindering efforts to increase minority ethnic participation in national politics. Candidates for election to the Dáil must be Irish citizens.

She argued that the high refusal rate for naturalisation applications, which was 47 per cent in 2008, was partly due to the absence of "clear rules and clear access" for applicants.

Cllr Rotimi Adebari suggested that one of the 11 Senators nominated by the Taoiseach should be an immigrant and that the voting age should be lowered to 17 years.