Derek McDowell (Labour)

I move amendment No. 11:

In page 12, lines 5 and 6, to delete "a person is of Irish associations if--" and substitute ", reference to Irish associations shall not include the making of an investment in Ireland but shall include circumstances where a person meets one of the following criteria--".

This section seeks essentially to eliminate what was colloquially called the "passports for sale" arrangement that applied until relatively recently although it is fair to say that passports have not been awarded on that basis for several years. The Labour Party supports that. We are, however, concerned that the Minister might be closing off a discretion which we should perhaps retain, namely, the right to confer honorary Irish citizenship on people who had an association with Ireland which was not based purely on birth or blood relationship. We formulated these amendments to retain the discretion which exists to confer citizenship on people who have done service to Ireland, who have perhaps cultural or academic connections with Ireland and have contributed to the social and cultural life of the State.