Seanad debates

Wednesday, 5 May 2004

Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed).

 

7:00 pm

Photo of Joanna TuffyJoanna Tuffy (Labour)

I will, yes. The more I look at this amendment, the more concerned I become about it. For example, one of my family members is married to a non-citizen and they could be affected by this measure. There are many people in that position. There are many people whose children emigrated to America and other countries, married, came back here and presumed their children would be constitutionally entitled to Irish citizenship. Surely this measure puts that in question. I want the Minister to be clear in his reply. If an Irish citizen goes abroad to work, marries somebody who is not an Irish citizen, comes back here — the spouse does not have Irish citizenship at that stage — they have a child but the Irish citizen dies before the birth of that child, that child's constitutional right to citizenship will be in question.

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