Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

This is my first opportunity to ask the Taoiseach why he told the House on 17 February that the Government had no plans for a referendum. Three weeks later, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy McDowell, stated that such plans do exist. Why did the Taoiseach change his mind? What changed his mind?

I was greatly inspired at the weekend by the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform urging us to reclaim the Republic, something with which I agree but the cardinal principle of any republic is equality before the law. He now seems intent, with the Taoiseach's support, on introducing a law to create three categories of citizen.

The primary reason for this referendum according to the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, was based on an approach made to him by the masters of the Dublin maternity hospitals to change the law. The masters issued a statement denying they ever made any such approach. As well as misrepresenting the masters, the Minister also inadvertently, we are told, misrepresented the date when he said he met with them in October of last year. He met with them in October 2002 at a meeting organised by his officials.

If a problem exists in the Dublin maternity hospitals in terms of their not being able to cope with the number of non-national births, then that problem should be addressed. The difficulties we are encountering when tabling parliamentary questions is that neither the Minister for Health and Children nor the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform can provide us with figures in terms of what contribution non-nationals are making to the "problem". Is it the 46,000 people to whom the Tanáiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Harney, gave permits last year or is it those referred to by the Minister as "tourists"? The only figures I can find, in terms of pressure on the Dublin maternity hospitals, state that we had 82,000 births in the Republic in 1980, an average of five bed nights per person or 400,000 in total. The figures for 2003 are 55,000 births with an average of two and a half bed nights or a total of 137,000 bed nights. That comes out at 137,000 bed nights in 2003 as compared to 400,000 bed nights in 1980. Perhaps there is intolerable pressure.

Will the Taoiseach observe the Lenihan rules in terms of providing this House and society the opportunity they deserve to consider something as important as a referendum on citizenship?

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