Dan Boyle (Cork South Central, Green Party)

I propose to share time with Deputies Crowe and Gregory.

In the proper context and in an appropriate environment a debate on citizenship would be very welcome — a debate on the nature of what it means to be an Irish citizen, what it means to be a citizen in a republic, what are the rights that being an Irish citizen confers upon an individual and, more important, what are the responsibilities that individual citizens have to act collectively to bring about the best possible society here. That is not the debate we are having. That is not the debate the Government wishes us to have. The Government has zeroed in on a very narrow aspect of the citizenship debate and in so doing has exposed its own cynicism regarding how it sees Irish citizenship in the 21st century. The debate on citizenship should not only be about birthright, it should also be about heritage and residency. In trying to make ourselves seem more like Berlin than Boston on this issue, the Government has forgotten that on many aspects our citizenship laws are far from liberal, and that as regards residency, citizenship granted to people who have lived in this country for a considerable length of time depends solely on the whim of the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, whereas in other countries such citizenship is granted after a set period of residency.

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