A campaign in the north of Ireland has urged voters in the south to vote for Catherine Connolly because northerners are barred from taking part.

Sinn Féin and a number of left-wing groups and independents have campaigned in support of the independent Galway TD Catherine Connolly in Friday’s election.

But as it stands, an Irish citizen living in the Six Counties or abroad has no democratic rights in this or any Irish election.

Members of Kneecap have led a campaign to put Ms Connolly into Áras an Uachtaráin, telling their 26 County fans to “vote Connolly cause we can’t”. The Belfast-based rap trio took to Instagram to post the “vótáil Connolly” message with their signature balaclava symbol.

In Belfast, an ‘Our President Too’ event was hosted last Thursday by Áras Uí Chonghaile, The James Connolly Visitor Centre, involving academic Eilish Rooney and Sinn Féin Senator Murphy both discussing the situation whereby a huge section of the Irish citizens are disenfranchised.

Senator Murphy said: “This is primarily a matter of citizens’ rights and the refusal of successive Dublin governments to honour the Good Friday Agreement, an agreement which they are co-signatories and guarantors of.

“The Good Friday Agreement explicitly recognises the right of people in the north to identify themselves and be accepted as Irish or British, or both.

“However, in terms of presidential elections, the Irish Government has failed to activate and enable people to exercise this right.”

He said that the lack of political will on the part of the Dublin government is the only reason that people in the north and in the diaspora cannot vote on Friday.

“141 countries across the world provide for citizens residing outside of the state to vote for their president,” he noted.

The North’s First Minister has said this must be the last Irish presidential election that those living north of the border cannot vote in.

Sinn Féin’s Michelle O’Neill said the fact that she could stand for election to become the next president of Ireland, but cannot vote in the same election, is a “huge gap” that needs to be closed.

The hardline unionist DUP confirmed their opposition to the idea.

Emma Little-Pengelly, the DUP’s Six County Deputy First Minister, insisted the head of state in the north of Ireland is England’s King Charles. She said this is the “political reality”.

She added: “You cannot be both part of the United Kingdom and participate in the election of the head of state of a foreign nation”.

But many nationalities, such as French, American and Polish, routinely take part in their country’s elections, while living under British jurisdiction. Asked about Little-Pengelly’s comments at Stormont on Monday, Ms O’Neill acknowledged that they “don’t agree” on the matter.

“As an Irish citizen, the irony is all this debate is the fact that I as an Irish citizen can stand for the office of Uachtaráin na hÉireann, but cannot vote in that election,” she said.

“That’s a huge gap and a democratic deficit that needs to be corrected, and we’re determined to ensure that that is the case.

“This needs to be the last election for Uachtaráin na hÉireann where northern citizens are left out of the vote because we have to be afforded that right as Irish citizens.”

On Wednesday, a motion in the Dáil brought by Aontú seeking to allow votes for northerners and reform the presidential election process was not opposed by the government.

It called for Irish citizens on both sides of the border to vote in presidential elections, and to lower the threshold on nominations to ensure more candidates go forward.

“An Irish citizen, an Irish passport holder, a person living in Ireland, recognised by the Good Friday Agreement, is not allowed by this state to vote in a presidential election,” party leader Peadar Tóibín said.

“There is a two tier citizenship in existence in Ireland. It is deeply undemocratic and it is against the spirit of the Good Friday Agreement.”

In response, Minister James Browne said the coalition government was not opposing the motion, but that the changes would require referendums.

In 2013, a constitutional convention recommended extending the voting franchise to all Irish citizens living outside the state, but was never acted upon.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin told reporters this week that “a lot of work has to be done” in relation to any move to extend voting rights, but did not indicate any plans to do so.