Results 18,121-18,140 of 18,761 for speaker:Michael McDowell

Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage. (21 Apr 2004)

Michael McDowell: The proportion of women asylum seekers of child-bearing age who are pregnant at the time of application in 2002 and 2003 remains constant at 58%, which is an extraordinarily high rate in comparison to any normal population standards.

Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage. (21 Apr 2004)

Michael McDowell: It is impossible to demonstrate the motives of individuals who come to Ireland and have children to a point of mathematical certainty. Equally, I want to emphasise that it is almost the universal understanding of those who are active in the field of migration and in the field of maternity services in Ireland that citizenship is a very significant pull factor inducing people to come to Ireland...

Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage. (21 Apr 2004)

Michael McDowell: The evidence that we have a serious problem in terms of the integrity of our citizenship law is to be found in the fact that huge and unprecedented pressures have emerged in our maternity hospitals. They are not two separate issues from which I can move, one to the other. They are two sides of the same coin. I have placed in the Library of the Oireachtas copies of the documents relating to my...

Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage. (21 Apr 2004)

Michael McDowell: ——who have come here on holiday visas, given birth, collected the birth certificate and the passport for the child and returned home.

Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage. (21 Apr 2004)

Michael McDowell: I have no practical way of stopping that sort of maternity holiday. I have been criticised for using the expression "citizenship tourism"——

Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage. (21 Apr 2004)

Michael McDowell: ——but that is precisely what we are faced with. The point is that an unintended effect of the wonderful achievement of the Good Friday Agreement, in advancing the peace process on this island, is the opportunity for this sort of abuse. The Government owes a duty to the people of this island to put measures in place to stop the abuse. That is what this referendum is all about. Why does it...

Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage. (21 Apr 2004)

Michael McDowell: The Attorney General's strong advice, which I accept, is that any law which sought to deprive a person born in Ireland of the entitlement of citizenship, or even to postpone the right of such a person to exercise that entitlement, would be shot down by the Supreme Court as being inconsistent with Article 2. There is no alternative to addressing this issue at constitutional level. That being...

Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage. (21 Apr 2004)

Michael McDowell: My message to those who favour discrimination against people, based on skin colour or other ethnic characteristics is as follows: if you are racist vote "no" in this referendum, because there is nothing racist about this proposal.

Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage. (21 Apr 2004)

Michael McDowell: If the Deputies would only listen instead of screaming abuse at me, they would realise that I never referred to any Member of this House——

Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage. (21 Apr 2004)

Michael McDowell: The humbug and cant I am hearing today really shocks me.

Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage. (21 Apr 2004)

Michael McDowell: I see no reason this matter should be referred to an all-party committee.

Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage. (21 Apr 2004)

Michael McDowell: People who are avowedly anti-racist——

Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage. (21 Apr 2004)

Michael McDowell: I propose to repeat what I said.

Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage. (21 Apr 2004)

Michael McDowell: A Leas-Cheann Comhairle, with the greatest respect, I will repeat what I said——

Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage. (21 Apr 2004)

Michael McDowell: ——-and I think everyone will see that it does not refer to anybody in this House.

Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage. (21 Apr 2004)

Michael McDowell: What I said was that people who are avowedly anti-racist have criticised the conjunction of this referendum alongside the local government and European Parliament elections as likely to bring out the racist in the electorate. I regard such arguments as unnecessarily scaremongering and well wide of the mark. They are arguments against ever putting this issue or any issue related to citizenship...

Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage. (21 Apr 2004)

Michael McDowell: Consider the practical options open to the Government — run it as an issue on its own——

Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage. (21 Apr 2004)

Michael McDowell: Will the Deputy listen for God's sake?

Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage. (21 Apr 2004)

Michael McDowell: The Deputy is a unique combination of nastiness and unruliness.

Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage. (21 Apr 2004)

Michael McDowell: Consider the practical options open to the Government.