Paul Coghlan (Fine Gael)

A child born anywhere, including Northern Ireland, would provide a basis for non-EU nationals to establish a right to reside in any other EU state. As we are aware, in 1998 an overwhelming majority of the people voted in favour of amending Articles 2 and 3 of the Constitution by way of implicit approval of the Good Friday Agreement. This involved deleting the previous territorial claim and replacing it with a broad and inclusive conceptualisation of the Irish nation which states:

It is the entitlement and birthright of every person born in the island of Ireland, which includes its islands and seas, to be part of the Irish nation. That is also the entitlement of all persons otherwise qualified in accordance with law to be citizens of Ireland.

We have not yet seen the Government's amending legislation on citizenship but it has stated that the referendum will take place on 11 June. It now appears that the Government proposes a change to the current understanding of Article 2 by way of an amendment to Article 9, the enabling provision dealing with citizenship. The Bill will amend the Citizenship Act 1956 in the area of entitlement to citizenship on the basis of birth on the island of Ireland combined with residency. One would expect that a constitutional referendum on something as fundamental and sensitive as citizenship at least would be preceded by the publication of Green and White Papers as well as wide ranging public consultation and debate. In this connection, Senator Maurice Hayes said this morning that we would need to be conscious of the position vis-À-vis people in the North and I am sure the Minister has borne that in mind. We would not want to rush into it without consulting them as we want to bring them with us. We have to consider whether the proposed referendum on citizenship removes the fundamental rights conferred by the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.

I am amazed at the Government's apparent rush to have everything in place for the referendum to coincide with the local and European elections, despite previous clear denials by Government that this would happen. Senator Hayes already referred to what we are aware of, although in one connection the lady said it was her personal opinion. Not alone will it lead to a heightened atmosphere but on a subject as sensitive as citizenship and the related issues of race, culture and identity, I think it is impracticable. It would seem that the Government is doing nothing to neutralise the suspected race factor in this proposal. The Minister must suspect that it will be almost impossible to have a rational debate on all of these issues. We need political consensus and that requires dialogue at this stage. I appeal strongly to the Minister to postpone the referendum. As Senator Brian Hayes said, there may be a presidential election in the autumn, but even if there were not, this is such an important issue that it needs to be teased out in rational debate and argument and all interested parties in the North should be consulted.

For the first time, people will be casting their vote by electronic means, which will add further to the confusion.