Martin Mansergh (Fianna Fail)

Despotic states ensure that their citizens or residents are documented. An argument is sometimes made against identity cards on the grounds of being too authoritarian. Like the previous speaker, I wonder if it is often the case that people do not have documents not because they have been deprived of them by the state they are leaving or because they cannot get hold of any identity documents, but because they do not want documents. They sometimes have false documents for the purpose of getting into another country, rather than for the purpose of getting out of their own country. It is unreal to argue that despotic regimes deprive people of documents, as it is the last thing they do.