Joe O'Toole (Independent)

This is why it is fanciful of the Minister to tell the House that the citizenship laws will not be changed and he is absolutely right. He then gives the impression to everybody listening that it will not affect citizenship, but it will have a significant and immediate effect on citizenship and the rights of citizenship from the day it is enacted. That is the whole point of it. It is like a ministerial order which requires the approval of the House or one which comes into operation on day one despite anything the House might do afterwards, in other words, the legislation may or may not change things and it might never be passed. We cannot anticipate that it will be or that it will be in the form which is suggested in the Minister's speech.

I have often celebrated with the Minister the impact and influence of his family and his forebears, particularly around the time of 1916. One of the documents produced at that time and in which some of his family may have had a significant input and influence, was the Proclamation of the Constitution. Most politicians read it as being the Constitution and it was quoted as being so on the Order of Business today. It seems that in deference to his family history, the Minister might at least attempt to recognise that he has impinged on that great statement in the Proclamation which successive Governments have ensured never got near the Constitution.