John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)

The Government is pandering to all those people and is not dealing with the facts.

We have been repeatedly told, including by some on the Opposition side who have fallen into the trap, that we are dealing with an anomaly and a loophole. It is no such thing. In his speech yesterday, the Minister said the current Article 2 of the Constitution had been considered by a number of eminent people, including the best legal brains in the country, who recommended not inserting it. It went in and we voted for it, so how can we say this is a loophole? Are we saying we did not foresee this? It is a fact that the Article exists and someone born here can become a citizen. It is very clear. It does not need a brilliant legal mind to identify this as a loophole discovered after years of study. It is nonsense.

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. The Government is using it and it is opportunism. Many years ago the colleagues of the Progressive Democrats in Germany, when they were also involved in some political hanky-panky, were told they would suffer as a consequence. Some opposition parties at the time used the slogan, "Give opportunism a chance — vote for the SDP." On this occasion I would say, "Give opportunism a chance — vote 'Yes' in the referendum."

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