Jim Walsh (Fianna Fail)

By way of background, the Supreme Court case of January 2003 has been mentioned. That clarified the position of non-national parents. It was interesting that, following the judgment, between July and December 2003, the Department sent out 1,108 letters to persons with an alternative legal basis for remaining in the State rather than basing everything on the status of their Irish-born child. Some 358 letters were sent, stating that the Department was considering deporting people. As part of that process, the Minister should be commended for agreeing the new voluntary return programme with the International Organisation for Migration, whereby the non-national parents of an Irish-born child can return to their native country and training and other assistance is being provided to help them. Equally, reapplication for leave to remain can also be made, but that will be dealt with only when the asylum claim has been determined.

I believe Senator Terry mentioned that applications for asylum reduced in 2003. I understand that the figures went from 988 in January to 347 in December, but it is impossible to determine what gave effect to that, since there were several changes. Apart from the Irish-born child issue, there was the elimination of rent supplement for asylum seekers and the introduction of carriers' liability, all of which could have had an impact on some of those reductions. An interesting statistic from the Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner was that 60% of female asylum seekers over 16 years of age are pregnant.

The Minister mentioned the growing concern of health care professionals in that regard. It should be noted that the three masters of the Dublin hospitals to which Senator Henry referred expressed a degree of concern. The number of births to non-nationals in Dublin was just under 5,000 in 2003 and represented 20% to 25% of all births. It was acknowledged by the masters that it gave rise to serious health and social policy issues, not to mention immigration policy, and they sought initiatives from the Minister in that regard. It is also important to acknowledge that many of those births are not necessarily to do with asylum seekers. That must also be put in context. Some people come here because Irish or EU citizenship is attractive, irrespective of their parental residence. In that context, we all now have EU citizenship as a consequence of being born in Ireland or another member state of the EU and it has been pointed out that this brings obligations as well as entitlements.

The Minister referred to the entitlement to citizenship for persons born in Ireland as being unique among EU member states. Most countries have citizenship acquired by descent from an existing citizen. Britain and Australia amended their legislation in the 1980s to deal with the issue with which we are endeavouring to deal here. It is worth describing the international scene. In Australia, a child acquires Australian citizenship if one of the parents is either an Australian citizen or a permanent resident. A child born to parents in the country illegally has no claim to citizenship and may be removed with the parents in accordance with normal removal procedures. In Britain, a child born after January 1983 is a British citizen if either the father or the mother is a British citizen or legally settled in Britain. A child born in the United States is entitled to US citizenship. The parents do not receive citizenship unless they have some legal basis for obtaining legal permanent resident status or otherwise meet the naturalisation eligibility requirements.

A child born in France to foreign parents automatically becomes a French national at the age of majority, which is 18. In Germany, if one parent has been a permanent legal resident for at least eight years, with a permanent resident's permit, children acquire German citizenship at their parents' request. In Denmark, the child of a non-Danish citizen does not receive Danish citizenship at birth. Since 1999, young foreigners aged 19 to 23 with a minimum of ten years' residence in Denmark have been able to request naturalisation. In Sweden, a child born to non-Swedish parents does not acquire Swedish nationality at birth. Spain does not grant Spanish citizenship to a child born to non-Spanish citizens. The child can gain citizenship between the ages of 18 to 20 by declaration. In Greece, there is no entitlement to nationality at birth. When a child reaches 18, he or she can apply for naturalisation. In Italy, with continuous residence since birth, a child can apply for Italian citizenship at the age of 21.

We can see from those comparisons that we are unique and well out of synch with what happens across the rest of Europe. Yet when this is proposed, people raise the spectre of racism. However, that is not mentioned regarding the current arrangements of those other countries and this shows that the argument is disingenuous.

The timing of the referendum seems to be the Opposition's main contention. However, the Good Friday Agreement was brought to the people within 44 days. The Minister made an interesting point about symmetry.