Feargal Quinn (Independent)

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time."

I welcome the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform to the House. I am glad to have the opportunity to introduce this Bill, which is intended to close off a dangerous loophole in our nationality and citizenship legislation. The loophole permitted the passports for sale scheme in the late 1980s and much of the 1990s. Many people in Government at that time were tempted to regard Irish citizenship as a matter in their own personal gift. Irish passports were issued to non-nationals in circumstances which, although they remain obscure today, were certainly of a dubious nature.

The Bill is not concerned with the past, except in so far as it aims to avoid the repetition of the mistakes I have mentioned. It is concerned with the future, in which the past could be repeated if we do not enact this Bill. When the Government ended the scheme in 1998, the legislative loophole that gave birth to the scheme in the first instance was not closed. To his credit, the Minister, Deputy McDowell, has said that he accepts this point. Under current legislation, there is nothing to stop a future Government from reintroducing a passports for sale scheme. No statutory or regulatory constraints are in place to prevent such a measure. There is nothing to prevent a future Taoiseach or Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform from handing out Irish passports on his or her personal whim. In presenting this Bill, I am arguing that the loophole in question is too important to leave unclosed.

The principal Act in this case is the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956, as amended in 1986 and 2001. The Act deals with the manner in which Irish citizenship may be acquired by birth or descent on the one hand, or by naturalisation on the other. The Bill before the House relates to naturalisation, which is governed by section 15 of the 1956 Act, which sets out the criteria to be applied by the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform in considering applications for naturalisation. The criteria apply mainly to the period the applicant has spent as a resident of Ireland and to his or her intention to continue living in Ireland. The criteria also extend to other matters, such as the requirement to be of good character and the necessity to make declaration of "fidelity to the nation and loyalty to the State". The criteria are simple and clear and nobody can say that they are too demanding.