Maire Devine (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Both of these amendments pertain to the Childcare Support Act 2018, which was alluded to by the Minister. The Bill provides for British citizens to access the national childcare scheme on the same basis as Irish citizens and assesses British citizens in the same manner as the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 2004, which states that a British citizen means a citizen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Does the insertion of British citizen here not then immediately presuppose that Irish citizens in the North are British citizens to be assessed in that manner after Brexit for the purposes of this Bill? I do not know if the Minister of State is aware of the Emma DeSouza case, which concerns whether citizenship differs. She is a British citizen even though she claims to be Irish. She is a British citizen because it is Irish identity that she has the right to claim. She has gone to Europe. I think she is there today. The ruling has not yet been made but it looks like it could push it, which is not in the spirit of the Good Friday Agreement, but then Great Britain is in so much turmoil that it does not seem as though it has common sense at the moment. Could the Bill not differentiate between British citizens, Irish citizens ordinarily resident in the North, and British citizens ordinarily resident in the North? Obviously, the Constitution states that it is the entitlement and birthright of every person born in the island of Ireland, which includes its islands and seas, to be part of the Irish nation and that is also the entitlement of all persons otherwise qualified in accordance with law to be citizens of Ireland. Can this not be provided for in this Bill in this manner? I have submitted the amendments to discuss this matter further. I do not intend to press them to a vote today, but depending on the answer, we will possibly be resubmitting them when the Bill comes before the Oireachtas Select Committee on Health.