Mr. Brian Gormally:

To be honest, the detail of the Deputy's final question would probably have to be put to an expert in Irish nationality law. I do not know whether there is such an expert on the panel. I am certainly not such an expert. The overall point is that nobody questions one's right to carry an Irish passport. Even though I am English by birth - as the members of the committee can probably tell from my accent - all of my children carry Irish passports. That is their choice, not mine. This right is perfectly well recognised and there is no difficulty about it whatsoever. The point is that this category of Irish citizenship does not provide rights in Northern Ireland, except insofar as the UK state says that people in this category are also British. The fundamental difficulty we are pointing to here is the recognition given to the quality of the choice to identify as and take the option of becoming an Irish citizen.