Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Immigrant Council of Ireland and the Migrant Rights Centre Ireland for being here this evening. Their advocacy and lobbying shows the best of our country and what it means to be Irish. I am bitterly disappointed at the Government’s reaction to this Bill, which I genuinely did not expect, but I will start on a point of unity. No mainstream political party has ever done this. Immigration never comes up in general elections.The race card has only been played once during my political career. That was in 2004 during an unnecessary referendum. It was a despicable gesture by the Fianna Fáil-Progressive Democrats Government of the day. I remember it, as do other candidates who ran in the local elections held on the same day. I remember reports of African-Irish families being booed at polling stations. I swore when I got elected to the city council on that day that I would never forget the emotions I felt during that referendum campaign, which my party and others on the left stood against.

The Bill does not overturn the result of that referendum. It does not give automatic citizenship rights to Irish-born children. What it does is allow that a child born on this island, that is, in Ireland, North or South, has the right to citizenship after residency of three years. As has been said, if the Government is opposing this, what the Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, did in Wicklow was a lie and what the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Flanagan, who was in this Chamber only moments ago, did in Laois was a lie. They are well able to accept the applause of their constituents when it comes to a popular campaign around an individual who was facing deportation. However, when it comes to regularising the situation and having legislation to underpin the rights of all children in that situation, regardless of whether they can run a media campaign and regardless of how influential they are, they are turning it down.

Despite all these launches relating to children's rights for the next five years and all this talk about a new republic, about getting up early in the morning and about a republic of opportunity, what opportunity are we handing to a child who is eight years old, Irish-born, knows no other country but Ireland and who faces deportation? The only chance they have is if they have a campaign group that is willing to go to a local Minister, who might step in and save the day on an individual basis.

What disappoints me most is that this is happening despite the Seanad having been really progressive, across all parties, Government parties included, on issues such as direct provision and advocating for the rights of undocumented workers. All of us have collectively called out the hypocrisy of going to the White House and advocating for undocumented workers in the United States and advocating for the rights of dreamer children. Dreamer children are dealt with in the Bill before the House. How dare we suggest that Trump is not doing the right thing when it comes to dreamer children and taking them away from their families, when this exactly what we are dealing with here? We are dealing with dreamer children. We are dealing with children whose position here needs to be regularised. What the Government is stating is that they are not important enough, that they do not have access or influence and that it will do this on an individual basis but not collectively.

I did not want to make this contribution. I wanted to make a contribution that would unify the House. I wanted to say that we, as Irish politicians, are better at this and that the 2004 referendum was a blip, a once-off mistake that involved the playing of the race card and something that should not happen again. The Government has an opportunity now, if it changes its mind, to regularise the situation of Irish children and to ensure that their schoolmates are not looking around themselves at an empty chair in the classroom and wondering why this so-called republic is sending them to countries of which they have no knowledge. I urge all Members to back this Bill.