Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

My final question arises out of committee hearings which were held a number of weeks ago. The following is a passage from the opening statement of Mr. Brian Gormally of the Committee on the Administration of Justice on the citizenship rights of people in the North. While this matter has been discussed to a significant extent politically, legally there is still very little certainty around it. Mr. Gormally stated:

The citizenship issue is an example of how basic assumptions of the Good Friday Agreement have been undermined. It recognises the birthright of the people of Northern Ireland to hold Irish or British citizenship on the basis of equality. The basic breach of this principle of equality by Brexit would be that Irish citizens would remain EU citizens whereas British citizens would not. It amounts to a new focus of division between the two main communities. It has also become clear that Brexit could make the status of Irish citizens born in Northern Ireland constitutionally and practically insecure. If Brexit goes ahead, Irish citizens will be EU citizens living in a non-member state. What rights do they have to live, work, access health and social services and fully participate in social and political life in the state where they were born? There are several possible answers to that question. The first possibility is that the Home Office will regard Irish citizens as really British since UK nationality law decrees that most of those born in the UK have British citizenship. The second possibility is that the common travel area will sort all this out but, as the Human Rights Commission has suggested, common travel area rights are built on sand. The third possibility is that under the withdrawal agreement, EU citizens living in the UK can retain many of their current rights by applying for settled status. [I understand there was a fee attached to that at one stage.]

None of these options is appealing as they all involve the implication that those who choose Irish identity are in some way second-class citizens. Their rights as full participants in Northern Ireland life would depend on either a denial of their Irish nationality, as yet unknown bilateral agreements between the UK and Ireland about the common travel area or asking the Home Office to graciously allow them to leave to live in the land of their birth.

There are significant and weighty questions arising therefrom which we discussed at length on the day with Mr. Gormally, Mr. Harvey and several other witnesses. Prior to the referendum on Brexit, there was not much dispute in regard to these areas but following Brexit these areas of dispute are likely to increase significantly. Given the gravity of the implications of these changes and the need for legislative clarity here and in the UK to resolve this matter, why have we not sought to affirm the rights of Irish citizens living in the North post Brexit, particularly a hard Brexit, in this legislation?