Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

The system has never rested on any statute. A passport is simply a request made by the Minister for Foreign Affairs to treat the bearer with respect in a foreign country. It contains the statement that it cannot be invoked in another country in which one is a national, in a case of dual nationality. The Minister has no power to protect one in such circumstances, as one is covered by the laws of one's other country.

The development of passports is an interesting subject in the context of this debate. Passports were seldom used in Europe before 1914. There was free transit between the various countries of Europe at that time. Modern commerce and communication systems resulted in the greater movement of population. A passport system was developed because states needed to be clear about who was arriving through their borders.

The conditions for the issue of a passport rest with the Minister for Foreign Affairs. The courts have recognised that if one is a citizen of this country, one has the right to a passport. The Minister for Foreign Affairs is obliged to respect one's constitutional right to travel overseas unless he can cite some compelling reason of the public good why one should not be given a passport — one might be a danger in the other country, for example. I suspect passports have not been mentioned much as the position is clear-cut. The Minister must give a passport to a citizen unless he can identify some compelling reason in the public interest for not doing so. Otherwise the citizen concerned can invoke the jurisdiction of the courts and compel the Minister to issue a passport to himself or herself. A person born in Ireland from two non-national parents becomes an Irish citizen under our current legislation and is entitled to apply for a passport. Obviously in the case of a minor, the passport must be applied for on his or her behalf. The adult can apply in his or her own right for the passport. This is no solution to the loophole.

Deputy Perry said that Fine Gael would not be found wanting. I have not found Fine Gael wanting in this debate. From what Deputy Kenny said yesterday, it is clear that Fine Gael is urging a "Yes" vote in this referendum. It recognises that a loophole exists and needs to be addressed. It has made a determination in the public interest and its Members have faced up to their responsibilities as legislators and have agreed we need this constitutional amendment. While Fine Gael may not like the method of approach in the way we introduced this Bill, it will support the proposal.

Deputy Perry pleaded for all-party consultations and agreement. The Minister briefed the Sinn Féin interest on this proposal in, I believe, late March. Within 48 hours he was told that Sinn Féin rejected the proposal. It is very difficult to go down the route of all-party consultations with a political operation of that type. Equally, it has been said that many eminent jurists anticipated that this difficulty might arise at the time of the conclusion of the Good Friday Agreement and the subsequent enactment in this House of legislation to implement that part of the Agreement relating to Articles 2 and 3 of the Constitution.

One of those eminent jurists was clearly a senior legal adviser to the then leader of the Labour Party, who wrote to the Taoiseach at the time suggesting that the implementing legislation should anticipate this difficulty and should deal with the matter. I understand the matter was considered by the Government at the time and various arguments were weighed up. I have not been able to penetrate the veil of Cabinet secrecy to find out what considerations led the Government to the view that it should not deal with the matter at the time.

However, the then leader of the Labour Party sought this change at the time and nobody would ever suggest that Deputy Quinn is a racist — far from it. He is one of those Deputies who has always struck a very strong note on the need for this country to be open to people of many faiths and none, and many races and none, and to build up confidence in this country in the process of immigration that now takes place. That was the position of the Labour Party as communicated to the Taoiseach at the time of the conclusion of that very important agreement in 1998. This year the Labour Party has indicated it is opposing the proposed amendment. It is very hard to see what kind of useful cross-party consultations could take place with a political operation based on that kind of absence of any fundamental principle.

One of the most extraordinary features of this Second Stage debate is that very few Deputies have criticised the substance of the proposal, which has been before the house for two days now. What is the principle? The principle of the provision is that the Government proposes to amend Article 9 of the Constitution and empower the Oireachtas to decide the citizenship entitlements of persons born on the island of Ireland neither of whose parents is an Irish citizen. That is the substance of the proposal that we are inviting the people to approve. Of those Deputies who will oppose the Bill when the division takes place, very few have expressed any reasoned objections to the core principle of this legislation.

It has been stated that we are not having the right debate and should have a proper immigration policy. We have an immigration policy. In 2003 we issued 49,000 work permits. That does not indicate an ungenerous immigration policy. We have introduced legislation. I believe Deputy Burton was involved at one stage in the enactment of the legislation. I know she would not claim credit for all of it and I would not blame her of the administrative impasse, which resulted afterwards. Legislation was enacted dealing with the protection of refugees and arrangements for the determination of refugee applications in this jurisdiction. That is a feature of any enlightened immigration policy. We have an immigration policy.

To sustain public confidence in an immigration policy, which issued 49,000 work permits in 2003, the constitutional fundamentals regarding citizenship must be right. This is the essential point of departure in any rational debate on this subject. We will not sustain public confidence in our immigration arrangements if we continue to allow this type of loophole. In this debate, no Deputy has seriously suggested this is not a loophole. This is a small country. While we can argue about statistics, we all have friends and associates who work in maternity hospitals. We all know what is being said.

There have been two matters of exception in this debate. One of these, which has since received widespread media coverage, was when Deputy Gormley said this morning:

We have now been told that the number of people affected is 442. That does not represent a crisis. At that rate it would take 100 years to fill Lansdowne Road to capacity if we were to fill it with the people who are supposed to be causing this problem. This is not a crisis.

That 442 relates to mothers arriving with late-term pregnancies and no anti-natal screening in one year at the Dublin maternity hospitals. Deputy Gormley does not think that is a problem. Apparently they are only digits or numbers who in the fullness of time and after a number of decades will fill up Lansdowne Road. It is ludicrous to suggest that behind those 442 individuals there are no people financing their trafficking from the countries of origin to our maternity hospitals. However, this has received widespread coverage today.

Although not a major undercurrent, another matter, which has caused me concern, is the suggestion that there is something racist in this proposal. There is not. I accept it is important that we behave responsibly in the course of this debate and maintain the proper approach to racial tolerance that should obtain in a debate of this character.

The important issue of the Good Friday Agreement has been raised. In so far as it is a British-Irish agreement, the Good Friday Agreement never conferred this right on any individual. It was the subsequent constitutional amendment, which was adopted in this State that left this loophole. It is important for us to address this for the sake of those directly concerned by the existence of this incentive and also for the general public confidence that must be maintained in a period of very rapid change on this issue in Ireland.

We can argue about the merits and demerits of various approaches to the timing of the referendum. If a referendum took place in isolation there would be an equally great or possibly greater danger of having a highly racist national debate because we would be facing a single-issue vote. At least this proposal has the merit of holding the vote at the same time as politicians are concerned with their appropriate representation on the county councils and other issues. On the suggestion that there is some opportunistic element in this as far as the Government parties taking part in the local government elections is concerned, the people form a very sophisticated electorate. They will not be taken in by that and will do as they please. They are perfectly capable of distinguishing different questions on the same day.

I should have said that I propose to share my time with Deputy McGuinness.

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