Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

Citizenship is the means whereby we become members of a moral, cultural, political, social, economic and legal community based on rights and duties established in law.

Citizenship, then, is not just an entitlement to a passport with a particular symbol on its cover, although possession of a passport is undoubtedly an important attribute of entitlement to a particular citizenship. It is a complex of rights and obligations shared by people of a common nationality, and a symbol of the sovereign nature of the nation State.

Governments have a duty then to safeguard the institution of citizenship to ensure that it continues to fulfil the requirements of its role as a manifestation of a nation whose people value membership of that nation. That is, for example, the reason I was able to take the opportunity, on coming into office as Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, to secure the agreement of my colleagues in Government to deliver the coup de grace to the scheme of investment based citizenship. In doing so I was continuing the process set in train by my predecessor, Deputy O'Donoghue, who had started winding up that scheme.

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