David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As Minister of State at the Department of Justice and Equality, I am pleased to be here on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Flanagan, who conveys his apologies. I acknowledge the work of the Labour Party in preparing this important Bill and, in particular, the work of Senators Bacik, Ó Ríordáin and Nash. This is an important issue and I commend them on raising it and giving us the opportunity to debate it.

The Government decided to oppose the Bill but I stress that this does not mean it is not open to a debate on the issues the Bill seeks to address. It is fair to state that the Bill would constitute a significant change of policy and would have far-reaching implications, some of which may be unforeseen, that need to be worked out before we decide to change the law. My Government colleagues and I would be happy, therefore, to engage in such discussions but, in view of the absence of any pre-legislative scrutiny of the proposals before the House, the Government feels it cannot support the Bill for a number of reasons. The Department received notice of the Bill last Wednesday only and, as a result, we have had only a week to examine it. Government Bills take much longer and the heads of the Bills must be sent to every Department for recommendations and observations. We must also submit Bills to the relevant committee for pre-legislative scrutiny. Private Members' Bills, on the other hand, do not have to go through that kind of scrutiny. Although we had less than a week to consider a Bill, we identified a number of issues which give cause for concern.

For context, Ireland has one of the least onerous paths to citizenship in the EU in terms of the qualifying period and the process of obtaining citizenship. A distinction must be made between residency rights and citizenship, but some Senators confused the two in their contributions. No EU member state grants automatic and unconditional citizenship to children born in its territories to foreign citizens. Ireland has fewer obstacles to naturalisation in the law for those potentially qualifying than most European countries, with straightforward residency requirements and the absence of formal language, civic knowledge arid economic resource requirements. Ireland requires five years of residence in the country in the past nine years, including one continuous year prior to application. Other countries have significantly longer qualification periods.

The existing citizenship laws are based on lawful and reckonable residency of the parent or parents. Approximately 27,000 children were granted citizenship under these rules from 2010 to date, some 2,700 of whom were born to European Economic Area, EEA, nationals, while 24,000 were born to non-EEA nationals, which is a large number. The vast majority, therefore, were born to non-EEA nationals, which demonstrates in real terms the results of effective compliance with our present pathways to lawful citizenship. Furthermore, another 25,000 people were granted citizenship in Ireland since 2010. I acknowledge what Senator Norris said about citizenship ceremonies. I have attended a number of them and they are emotional and amazing. I recommend that Senators attend one of the ceremonies to see the changes that have been made in the methodology of granting citizenship.

The purpose of the Bill is to introduce new rules to provide for citizenship by naturalisation of any child born on the island of Ireland regardless of the status of the parents, their method of entry to the State or the length of time unlawfully present. It also removes the requirement for an Irish-born child to be granted permission to reside in the State for the proposed period prior to his or her application. The proposed amendment could have the effect of reintroducing a route for individuals who had a child born on the island of Ireland to secure immigration permission and subsequently citizenship, despite not having permission to be in the State when the child was born. This would put Ireland out of step with all other EU member states, a move which would require careful consideration before it could be contemplated. If a minor successfully applies for citizenship in his or her own right, attendant rights will apply to his or her parents and siblings, as will the status of leave to remain. As a result, there are other implications of which we must be aware beyond those of the child.

The twenty-seventh amendment to the Constitution was introduced in response to the scenario in which non-EEA nationals arrived in the State with the intention of giving birth to gain the benefit of Irish citizenship for their newborn child and derived rights of residency for family members as a result. The subsequent legislation addressed major difficulties that arose at that time and the Bill provides an incentive for those living in an irregular situation to continue to do so to accrue reckonable residency for the purposes of naturalisation of the child. I remind Senator Clifford-Lee that it was Fianna Fáil which brought that legislation in following the referendum. Let it be put on the record that we are dealing with Fianna Fáil legislation.

Senator Bacik referred to the Bill as dealing with a specific cohort of minors in the State but the Bill will not deal with minors in the State today only. It will also change the law for the future.

On the risk to women, prior to the passing of the 2004 citizenship referendum, as was mentioned the masters of the three maternity hospitals in Dublin outlined the difficulties they were having during this period, with increasing volumes of late-presenting mothers whom they had not seen in an antenatal capacity. The identification of this route to citizenship also risks opening up avenues for the further exploitation of women who are forced either to travel here in the late stages of pregnancy or to conceive as a route to guaranteeing citizenship and residency for a wider cohort of family members. This does not, therefore, concern only the child.These serious matters need to be fully contemplated and I do not believe that any legislation should facilitate this risk. We need a long, deep debate on these matters. In reply to Senator Lawless, we are moving on the issue of the undocumented and have just announced a new scheme to regularise students who came here up to 2011. The scheme will also impact on any family member. It is open for application now and it is estimated that approximately 5,000 former students will qualify. We are making changes and we are not inflexible.

On the question of legal migration, Ireland provides for many non-EU and non-EEA citizens to migrate here and Ireland benefits greatly from this migration economically, socially and culturally. This morning, I attended an event on integration and inclusion with local authority members. The Minister for Justice and Equality has discretion to deal with each case before him on its merits and he frequently exercises it in favour of a child and his or her family where claims are made to stay in the country. On average, the Minister deals with two or three cases per week seeking permission to remain, which he assesses based on the facts presented. Many Deputies, and Senators on all sides of this House, make representations to the Minister to use his discretion and he examines the facts of every case carefully. There are statutory mechanisms in place to allow the parties in every case to make representations to the Minister in support of their claim and that of their children. Senator Bacik sees such discretion in negative terms.