Billy Lawless (Independent) | Oireachtas source

If I also understand the position correctly, this is not possible under the current legislation where only the non-national parent or guardian of the Irish born minor can apply. Perhaps Senator Bacik might elaborate on how this might work in practical terms. How would a minor born in Ireland who meets the amended criteria actually make this application? At no stage that I am aware of was the argument put to the people of Ireland in 2004 that this State wanted to deprive persons born on this island to non-EU national parents of an entitlement to be Irish and to be part of our State and nation. Yet that is precisely what the legislation which followed the 2004 amendment brought about. Even taking the arguments put forward at the time that the purpose of the referendum was to free up our maternity hospitals overblown with non-EU national parents looking to play the system or preventing them from obtaining automatic residency or citizenship entitlements, the practical effect of the referendum was to change neither of these concepts. No one was ever told that what the State really wanted to do was to reserve the absolute right to deport a nine year old who was born in Ireland to a Chinese mother to a country he had never set foot in. Thankfully, at least in this particular case, largely due to publicity, the Minister for Justice and Equality now appears to show clemency.

Like the Labour Party Senators who have proposed this Bill I would like Ireland to go further. The amendment we inserted in the Constitution in 2004 is worth reading into the Official Report. It provides that "[n]otwithstanding any other provision of this Constitution, a person born in the island of Ireland, which includes its islands and seas, who does not have, at the time of the birth of that person, at least one parent who is an Irish citizen or entitled to be an Irish citizen is not entitled to Irish citizenship or nationality, unless provided for by law." Perhaps we do not even need another referendum to make Ireland a more compassionate country for the people born here. I will allow the legally trained Members of this House to comment but it seems to me that the effect of the law enacted after the referendum does not reflect where the people stand with respect to how they believe persons born in this State should be treated.It would seem these laws can and should be changed. I firmly agree with the objective of the Bill to enable minors born in Ireland to apply for citizenship in their own right and equally to reduce the cumulative residency requirement they have to meet from five years to three years. It is a proportionate step in the right direction. I totally agree with Senator Humphreys. Advocates of the undocumented Irish in the United States are having a tough time as a result of the toxic attitude of the present Administration towards immigrants. At least the children born to undocumented Irish in the United States are automatically US citizens.