Ivana Bacik (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I support my colleague, Senator Moynihan, who spoke on the Irish Nationality and Citizenship (Naturalisation of Minors Born in Ireland) Bill 2018, Committee Stage of which will be taken next Wednesday. I know that the Deputy Leader responded previously when I spoke it, but we are very anxious that the Government supports its further passage. Amendments will be tabled, including one on the issue of the citizenship fee that Senator Moynihan mentioned. The crucial thing about this Bill is that if passed, it would restore a measure of generosity to our citizenship law in respect of children born in Ireland, and it is part of our Born Here, Belong Here campaign that is being run by the Labour Party along with Labour Youth and whole range of NGOs which have supported us, such as the Migrant Rights Centre. We hope that colleagues on all sides of the House, but particularly Government Senators, would support it. Indeed, Fianna Fáil and the Green Party supported the Second Stage of the Bill in this House in November 2018. We look forward to that debate and I look forward to engaging with the Deputy Leader of the House on the matter. I have also engaged with the Minister of Justice on the Bill and she has made some positive noises about it and on the hope that it will go through.

I thank the Leader of the House for ensuring that we will have statements on reopening Ireland this afternoon, because it is very important. The Government has a very difficult decision to make in terms of balancing public health with the need to restore a modicum of hope, and indeed to give some prospect of survival to many businesses around Ireland. The zero Covid strategy that has been strongly proposed by many medics and scientists, including many of my colleagues in medicine at TCD, relies on us either closing our borders as an Island, with an all-Island strategy, or having a hard border on the island, which makes it very hard to see prospects for that. However, I know that we will have a further debate on it this afternoon and I am glad we will have the opportunity to do so.