Brian Hayes (Fine Gael)

The opposite is the case. There is merit in the legislation going through both Houses and then being tested.

I am not so sure that the absolute guarantees in Article 2 in respect of citizenship to people born on the island of Ireland are as clear-cut as the Minister suggests. There would have been more support for the referendum had it gone through the Supreme Court a second time round in respect of the legislation. Article 2 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 the law to be citizens of Ireland....

This absolutist position that the Government has produced that people are automatically entitled to citizenship arising from the fact that they are born in Ireland——