Mary Henry (Independent)

It is an honour to second Senator Quinn's proposal. Irish passports are extraordinarily valuable documents, as any of us who have travelled abroad know. It is no wonder the review body that looked into the sale of passports received so many adverse comments from the public who was shocked at the way the scheme was administered, perhaps inadvertently.

When we go abroad with an Irish passport we are deemed very socially acceptable. We have no colonial past and a very good relationship with so many developing countries, where missionaries, teachers, doctors, engineers, etc., instituted educational and health measures. Our passport, therefore, is a desirable little book and it is very unfortunate that it has been debased in the way that it was.

As the Minister knows, many women endanger both themselves and their just-to-be-born children by coming here at a very late stage of pregnancy. Thousands of such children have been born here and no such child can be refused Irish nationality under the 1956 Act and the amendments made thereto in 1999. Even if one does not declare at the time that one is an Irish citizen, or no one declares it for one, one is an Irish citizen and can claim this privilege later.