Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)

On a point of clarification, the letter that emanated from Deputy Quinn to the Taoiseach in 1998, prior to the country voting on the referendum, was to clarify the distinction between citizenship and nationality, which was not clear. The Taoiseach replied that he was satisfied with the situation and that it did not matter whether all immigrants to this country were termed in that fashion because he was concerned that the Good Friday Agreement was paramount. At that time the Taoiseach did not see any need to do anything, and he knew exactly what he was proposing.

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