Seanad debates

Wednesday, 22 October 2003

Irish Nationality and Citizenship and Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill 2003: Second Stage.

 

I share with the Minister a certain disquiet regarding people gaining citizenship purely because they have the financial wherewithal to invest in a company here. However, I must balance that by not taking the moral high ground too much regarding the plight of individuals whom I knew personally at the time, who would have taken money from anywhere to keep their company going and save the jobs of those involved. My own county languished at the top of the unemployment league table. For many years during the 1980s we had the second or third highest level of unemployment in the country, at 17% or 18%. I know companies there which benefited under the scheme and because of it were able to continue in operation, saving jobs. Obviously, prospects for the families involved significantly improved because of that. That is the other side of the coin in this debate that should not be lost sight of entirely as we clamber up the hill to the high moral ground.

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