Séamus Kirk (Louth, Fianna Fail)

I thank Deputy Nolan for the opportunity to contribute on this important legislation. Given the focused provisions in this legislation, the wide-ranging contributions of speakers on the Opposition benches seem fairly irrelevant. The purpose of the Bill is simple. The proposal is to restore to the Oireachtas the power to legislate as to the circumstances in which citizenship will be conferred on a child born on the island of Ireland to parents neither of whom is an Irish citizen nor entitled to become an Irish citizen. The Oireachtas had that power until 1999. With the Good Friday Agreement and the subsequent referendum, unintended changes were introduced. If this referendum is passed on 11 June, that power will be restored to the Houses of the Oireachtas.

The 1996 Constitution Review Group felt that the right to citizenship should not be written into the Constitution. A short perusal of the membership of that review group will reveal very significant legal minds deciding on that recommendation, and who are we in this Chamber to argue with that recommendation? I am sure the group considered it long and hard. It considered the implications of the recommendation and was cognisant of its obligations to the greater population and the Oireachtas at the time.

In no other country in the world can citizenship be obtained through the most tenuous of links. The consequences of the changes to Article 2 in terms of citizenship were clearly unintended at the time. The present proposal must be and will be consistent with the British-Irish Agreement which was part of the Anglo-Irish Agreement.

We need fair and sensible citizenship laws. This Oireachtas has the capacity to deliver these but it needs to have the constitutional power to do so. Opposition parties in the House regularly lament not having a chance to participate but, as far as the fashioning of our future citizenship laws is concerned, their hour has come.

We are entitled to bring our Constitution and laws on citizenship into line with those of the European Union so we will not create unintended incentives that are unfair both to us and the other European Union countries. The Republic of Ireland is the only European Union member state that grants automatic citizenship rights and, therefore, a passport valid throughout the European Union. This is a fact we simply cannot ignore.

This referendum is not about race and those who suggest it is are twisting the facts. It is about bringing Irish citizenship law into line with European Union citizenship law. In Australia, for instance, a child born to non-national parents has no claim to citizenship. The same applies in the United Kingdom, France and Germany. We do not hear people complain that these countries are racist because of their laws. Therefore, how can one accuse Ireland of racism for following suit?

It is the duty of the Government to regulate and control immigration. Failure to do so would lead to racial tensions. By bringing forward this proposal, the Government is taking the lead and bringing us into line with practice in all other EU countries and countries world-wide.

The Government believes there are sufficient and serious grounds for its proposals. The constitutional provisions on citizenship introduced when we approved the Good Friday Agreement are being used in a way that was not intended by those who voted in 1998. While the British-Irish Agreement gave rise to the conferring of a constitutional right to Irish citizenship on all children born in Ireland, it had not been the Government's intention to confer this right on those whose parents do not have sufficient connection with the island of Ireland.

Our constitutional provisions are being used in a way we did not intend. The provisions we are bringing forward do not contradict or undermine the Good Friday Agreement. The proposed amendment to Article 9 of the Constitution is not in breach of the Agreement or the continuing obligation of good faith in its implementation. The rights of the people of Northern Ireland will be preserved by this legislation.

The interest in the contributions over the past two days reflects the importance and seriousness of what we are discussing. The opportunity is being provided to the people to decide whether they want the Oireachtas to have the power to define our citizenship laws. They will have this opportunity on 11 June and I believe they will restore the position that existed prior to 1999 and allow the Oireachtas to legislate on our citizenship laws.

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