Jim Walsh (Fianna Fail)

Senator's Tuffy is arguing the Labour Party's point that any child born in Ireland, regardless of whether the parents are nationals, should have an immediate entitlement to citizenship. That is the substantive issue to which I referred to earlier. On Second Stage and in previous debates on this issue, application of citizenship rights in other EU member states was raised. Ireland's arrangements are unique and along the lines advocated by Senator Tuffy. The proposal that a child born of non-national parents, one of whom must have resided in Ireland for three of the past four years, will be entitled to citizenship is generous. However, I believe the period should be for a minimum of five years or longer. There will be an opportunity to debate this when the legislation is introduced.

I disagree with Senator Tuffy's argument because this is an area that needs to be regulated. Evidence from the hospitals of women arriving in Ireland late in pregnancy has been raised. This is neither in the interest of their personal health nor of the child's. Many of these women do not have a full understanding of the language, which also imposes difficulties on the hospitals in giving effective treatment. There are also obligations to other EU member states because, as a consequence of obtaining Irish citizenship, one also obtains EU citizenship. There is a good argument for bringing broad harmonisation to this area.