Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)

I respect his views and he is right on this matter but, unfortunately, his views are not having any effect on the Government.

As regards the issue of women having babies whose fathers have work permits, I have to confess that I was one of those women. I went to Canada when I was pregnant 28 years ago. I got there six months before my daughter was born and stayed for another 12 months before returning to Ireland. Subsequently, I applied for a Canadian passport for her because she was embarking on a school tour and it was quicker to get a Canadian passport than an Irish one. I would have had to apply to Vancouver for the long form of my daughter's birth certificate to obtain an Irish passport. That was the first time I had figured out that she was entitled to a Canadian passport. She has not returned to Canada, although she now has a health professional's qualification and may choose to work there at some stage. Until this debate arose, I never felt that I or my daughter may have abused the system and I do not believe we have done so. I went to Canada with my husband who had a work permit to do a job that Canadians needed at the time. I was pregnant and received excellent care in Vancouver General Hospital. My daughter grew up largely in Ireland but has positive feelings about Canada and may return there to work.

I was, therefore, in a similar situation to Filipino nurses who are now fulfilling a need in the Irish economy. It may well be that in 20 years' time, the children of these Filipino nurses may also have the kind of positive feelings towards their native land that my daughter has towards Canada. They might come back with professional qualifications and contribute to the Irish economy, and why not? Would it not be a good thing if they did? Should their mothers not have the right to do what I did? Should their children not have the same kind of rights my child had in Canada?

As my colleague Deputy Michael D. Higgins said, there are many other countries that operate the same system as ours, whereby if a child is born in the country they are natives and have rights. It is interesting to consider the words "nation", "nationality", "nativity" and "native". We talk about being part of the nation but the word "nation" is related to the word "nativity" which means birth. There is a long-term understanding in the English language that nationality and nativity are related. In other words, if one is born in a place we talk about a person's birthright. These matters have resonance and they mean something. If one is born in a country one does have connections there, even if one's mother left a couple of days after giving birth.

These matters deserve deeper examination than can be achieved in the context of a rushed referendum. We need time to examine all these issues but we only have two days in which to do so in the House. I presume that Committee and Report Stages will be rushed, before the Bill goes to the Seanad. In that time-frame, the people will then have to examine all these complicated issues, reverberations and possible consequences for other matters which we have not even thought about as a result of changing the Constitution in this way.

Having listened to Deputy Mulcahy, I wonder if we have any chance of a reasoned debate. He said that because the Labour Party is against this referendum, it is in favour of an open-door policy.

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