Re: Bertie Speech
An Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern T.D., said that, the constitutional referendum on citizenship has a single and straightforward purpose. There is a loophole in our citizenship law that is open to abuse. Voting Yes will close that loophole. Ireland is the only EU country that allows an unrestricted right to citizenship at birth. The Government’s proposals are to change that.
The purpose of the constitutional amendment is to replace an unqualified right to citizenship at birth regardless of how briefly either of the parents of a child has been in Ireland with a qualified but liberal provision for citizenship. Under the legislation that the Government will enact if the referendum is passed, a child either of whose parents has been in Ireland for three of the previous four years, will be entitled to citizenship.
In recent days unfounded claims have been made alleging that children born in Ireland might be rendered stateless as a result. This is totally untrue. Any child born in Ireland who would for some reason not be entitled to citizenship in any other state would now and would continue to be automatically entitled to Irish citizenship.
Another unfounded claim is that this change in our constitution would affect the human rights of children. To the contrary, every person in Ireland regardless of whether they are citizens or not is fully entitled under national and international law to have their human rights fully respected.
It is a separate matter for the people of every country to decide to whom and under what circumstances they grant citizenship.
The reality is that people with no connection to Ireland, and even with no intention to live here, have arranged for their children to be born in Ireland so as to have Irish citizenship. This is done, often travelling during the late stages of pregnancy at great risk to themselves and their unborn child. Irish citizenship has also been put forward as a reason why such parents should be allowed stay in other EU countries. This is something that reflects on every Irish citizen, present and future.
This loophole in Irish citizenship law was clearly shown last week in the Opinion of the Advocate General to Europe’s highest court, the European Court of Justice, in the Chen case. Clearly the Government’s decision to propose this referendum to go ahead now was a prudent one.
Ireland today is the most globalised economy in the world. Our continuing success depends on us being an open and welcoming country for people to come to live and work in. As a Government we have pursued an open, but considered, approach to immigration. Some 47,500 work permits were issued last year to non-EU nationals. Immigration has enriched Irish society as a whole, not just economically, but socially and culturally as well.
Ireland will continue to have one of the most liberal citizenship laws in Europe after a YES vote. A YES vote will not remove citizenship from anyone who had it or was entitled to it prior to the enactment of the amendment.
A YES vote will not prevent those who do not acquire citizenship at birth from acquiring it at a later stage, after a number of years residency in the country.
A YES vote will not affect the Good Friday Agreement.
What a YES vote on June 11th will do is close a loophole in Irish citizenship law and protect its integrity and value into the future.