John O'Donoghue (Kerry South, Fianna Fail)

I had hoped to resolve the situation through the courts when I was Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform. The Supreme Court decided that parents of an Irish child did not have an automatic right to stay but that the children had an automatic right of citizenship. No other country grants this facility. It is reasonable for the people to change the Constitution to provide that a child be an Irish citizen only if one or other of the parents has lawfully been here for a period of time. Last year, between 20% and 25% of births in Dublin's three maternity hospitals were to non-nationals. The number of non-nationals pregnant at the time of application was almost 60% of the number of female asylum seekers aged 16 years and over.

Elections will be held on 11 June when the people will also make a decision on amending the Constitution to provide that the parent of a child born in Ireland be lawfully here for a period before being entitled to citizenship. Balanced immigration policy and laws are needed.

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