Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

To take the second point first, "resident" for the purpose of section 6A refers to actual residence in Ireland, and the Bill states: "has been resident in the island of Ireland for a period of not less than 3 years or periods the aggregate of which is not less than 3 years", during the period of four years immediately preceding the person's birth. One must be actually resident here. If the concept of "ordinarily resident" during those periods is introduced, then one could have a situation where somebody who spent 40% of his or her time abroad, but who could plead to be ordinarily resident in Ireland, might actually be here for far less than three years out of the four-year period. If somebody was resident in Ireland on a 60:40 basis, then that ratio would apply to the aggregate of three-year periods. It might well be that he or she was resident in Ireland only for a minority of the time and that would not be acceptable. I am not accepting that amendment.

As regards the person's birth and the substitution of the date of application, this is a fundamental issue and was debated at great length in the other House on Committee and Report Stages. Fundamentally what is being proposed here is that if parents have a child in Ireland and three years elapse before they make an application for citizenship for that child, even though they were here only a short time before he or she was born, they are entitled to do so. The explanation I gave in the other House is simply this. We are dealing with the right of citizenship deriving from birth. We are not dealing with the question of people who, having stayed here for a considerable period of time, opt into the Irish community. As an example of the latter case, however, a Filipino nurse comes to Ireland and in her first year here has a child with her husband. That child, under this law, will remain a Filipino citizen. However, if she and her husband remain in Ireland legally for four or five years they will, prima facie, be entitled to apply for Irish citizenship for themselves. At that time they will be able to apply to naturalise all of their minor children who are resident with them in Ireland. That couple could have a child after one year in Ireland and another, perhaps, after two years and yet another a year later. Depending on the exact timing, the last child might or might not qualify for Irish citizenship as of right, from birth.

One may ask how come we distinguish between the first child born in Ireland and the one born three years after the parents have come here. That frequently happens and it would be the case if they had brought two children with them from Manila in the first place. There would be a distinction between the citizenship of the children, depending on when and where they were born. If, however, the family is committing to Ireland long term, all the children who are citizens of the Philippines by virtue of descent from their parents, will, if the parents so opt, be entitled to become Irish citizens when the father and mother have been here for five years. That is the situation.

If I had opted for the other route, I would be saying, in effect, that a pregnant woman and her husband could come to Ireland, have the child here and citizenship would be conferred on the infant as of right if they happened to remain in Ireland for three years thereafter. That would have a radically different effect. It would introduce a new concept of opting for Irish citizenship for one's child by coming to Ireland to have the child here. We do not want to go down that road and no injustice is being done because a Filipino family, for instance, of the type I have just mentioned, which wants to commit completely to Ireland, will be able to have all their minor children naturalised if they remain, legally, for five years, whether or not they brought them from Manila or were born here.

I mentioned on Second Stage in this House that Ireland has one of the most liberal citizenship and nationality laws anywhere in Europe. In fact Senator Walsh read in to the record of the House how liberal the Irish situation is compared to other countries. Therefore, I ask the House to recognise that the principle which amendment No. 5 seeks to amend is what the people voted on. This would be a substantial departure from what they were told was involved when they were voting in the referendum, namely, that a person had to be three years in Ireland before a child born to him or her could become an Irish citizen from birth.