Batt O'Keeffe (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

I welcome the opportunity to speak in favour of the Bill. We are entitled to bring our Constitution and our laws into line with other European countries' laws on citizenship in order not to create unintended incentives which are unfair to us, our people or other European countries.

This Bill will provide that in the case of a child born to non-national parents at least one of the parents must have lived in Ireland for the three or four years preceding the birth of the child before the child becomes entitled to Irish citizenship. Whether either parent of a child born anywhere in Ireland is a United Kingdom national or a long-term resident, the child will still be entitled to Irish citizenship. The proposal in the referendum compares favourably with conditions in many of our EU neighbour states and it is hoped that through this referendum we will bring our laws into line with them.

Entitlement to Irish citizenship for children born in Ireland will still compare favourably with most countries outside of the European Union. If the referendum proposal is passed and the Government passes its published draft legislation, Ireland will still be one of the more liberal states in the EU as regards citizenship. The gospel in these matters is The Irish Times. It has come out against this referendum but has acknowledged this fact.

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