Seán Ryan (Dublin North, Labour)

I am pleased to have an opportunity to place my views on the Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill on the record of the House. However, I would prefer if we were debating a much wider agenda.

I do not accept the placing of restrictions on citizenship is a matter of principle. I firmly believe the State is obliged to protect itself against exploitation or abuse should it exist. I concur with the views expressed yesterday by our party leader. The Labour Party is not in favour of an open door policy and it does not believe that anyone who lands in Ireland is entitled by right to receive an Irish passport. While acknowledging the historical experience of the Irish people over the years in regard to emigration, we must look at the reality of life today. I am deeply concerned at the motivation and staging of the referendum in tandem with the local and European elections. I fully support the amendment put forward by Fine Gael, the Labour Party and the Green Party. I support in particular the need for an all-party Oireachtas committee to consider the Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill and evaluate the issues on the basis of the knowledge of experts and the insight of groups outside the Houses and to report thereon to both Houses of the Oireachtas before 1 September 2004.

At a time when Ireland has received at least 150,000 foreign immigrants since 1996, it is a scandal that there is no immigration policy in place. What we have seen over the years is a piecemeal approach by this Government. We urgently require an informed public debate on immigration and diversity, including its economic and cultural benefits. We need leadership which is unlikely to be forthcoming from the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste or anyone in the Government. As someone who admired the Tánaiste over the years, she has been conned into holding the referendum on the same day as the local and European elections.

I referred earlier to the need for leadership. Immigration is here to say. The Immigrant Council of Ireland, which was formed by this Government, and supported by Governments in the past, has received no financial support in recent years, which is a scandal. In a recent submission to the Joint Committee on Social and Family Affairs the council stated:

Despite the economic slowdown of recent months, there is still a perception that economic growth in the years to come will continue to require growth in the available supply of labour. IBEC believes that employer representative bodies are still encountering considerable difficulty recruiting staff with appropriate skills. They believe that immigration will continue to be a factor of the Irish Labour Market going forward and have called for an efficient immigration system.

It should also be noted that there has been more than a 600% increase in the number of work permits granted by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment since 1999. In the context of the debate and the lack of leadership on the issue, it is timely that we put on record the following excerpts from the booklet Labour Migration into Ireland by the Immigrant Council of Ireland. It is the appropriate framework for an informed debate. It reads as follows:

Although politicians have frequently presumed that the only alternative to a restrictive immigration policy is a so-called "open door" policy, this is a false alternative. The choice facing Ireland is not one between the extremes of an "open door" policy or a "fortress Ireland". All states need to manage migration.

Completely unrestricted immigration is impracticable for a variety of reasons. Apart from the fact that such a policy would be impossible to adopt in isolation from other countries, especially our EU neighbours, any unplanned large-scale movement of persons, internally or externally, would have a variety of very practical consequences, such as the impact on the provision of transport, health, housing, education and other services. Moreover, in societies marked by conditions of considerable social inequality — and regrettably Ireland is an example — any substantial unmanaged influx may give rise to the dangers of social conflict.

This is an important statement which shows clearly where we must go and what needs to be done.

Leadership in this field has not been forthcoming. As practising politicians, we are all aware of the mistaken and exaggerated perceptions that exist, particularly on the part of people who have not benefited in recent years from the so-called Celtic tiger. When one is on the doorsteps in certain areas one hears phrases such as, "Ireland is taking in more than its share", "Refugee and asylum seekers are getting free prams, phones, cars and so on from the Department of Social and Family Affairs", "Immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers cause shortages in health care and housing" and "Irish jobs are being taken by immigrants". This is the reality in certain areas. Rather than dealing with the substantive issues, the Minister informs us that he must proceed as a matter of urgency to bring this referendum to the people because it will sort out the perceived problems that exist in Ireland today. There is no time to debate the issue in an effort to achieve consensus among the political parties. It is worth our querying the effect of these proposals. According to the masters of the maternity hospitals, approximately 400 children — some newspapers put the figure much lower — would be deprived of automatic citizenship each year. In the context of the Supreme Court judgment of January 2003 which stated there is no automatic legal entitlement for the parents of children born in Ireland to remain in the country, how will what the Minister proposes contribute to resolving the problems that Fianna Fáil backbenchers say exist and are put to them on the doorstep? That issue must be addressed; I ask why it is so.

It is no coincidence that Fianna Fáil has been in power in Government and local authorities for so long it has become imperative for it to retain that power. The Fianna Fáil think tank funded by the State was convinced that, arising from the cuts and broken promises since the general election, they were on a hiding to nothing in the local and European elections. The electorate could not be allowed to adjudicate on issues such as charges, health services, planning corruption and housing. In that context, it was vitally important to muddy the waters and a referendum was the answer. Positions of power on local authorities were much more important to Fianna Fáil and its financial backers than anything else. Many of the supporters who happen to be senior players in the various tribunals would have been at a huge disadvantage if Fianna Fáil had taken a drubbing in the local elections, so the Fianna Fáil think tank came up with the idea of encouraging the perception among the public that the referendum would resolve a problem that may or may not exist. They wished to muddy the waters and try to ensure they get a majority on councils, not caring how the matter would be resolved.

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