Annie Hoey (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I have never spoken from this part of the Chamber before. It is a different layout or space for me. The referendum in 2004 is one of my earliest memories of politics. I was 16 at the time so I was aware of the concept of politics but it the first time I was really aware of a political discussion happening. I remember being quite uncomfortable about the way some girls in my school were talking to others. I remember a sense of unease around it. I was not entirely what the story was, but I was uneasy. I remember a lot of talk about prams and buggies. All of these things were flying around. As has been said, I know the intention of this referendum was not mean-spirited but I believe we all recognise that, unfortunately, the discourse around it became very mean-spirited at the time. It really stoked a lot of fears in people and created a kind of thinking about migrants in Ireland whose knock-on effects we are still feeling.

This is a positive and good Bill. We have seen a lot of material online over recent weeks. There have been a lot of hand-wringers in the comments sections saying that we voted for this system. We also voted for a clause allowing us to legislate, however, which is exactly what this Bill does. There is no underhandedness and no one is trying to undo anything; there was a very clear clause in the amendment allowing us to legislate in this way. I commend my colleague, Senator Bacik, on leading the charge in this regard.

I will quickly provide some figures supplied by Migrant Rights Centre Ireland. It did some research in 2019 with more than 100 undocumented parents and found that 68% of their children were born here. Some 58% of these were over five years old while 20% were over ten years old. Some 32% of the children and young people concerned were born outside of Ireland, 78% of whom had been living here for five years or more. In some cases they had been living here for more than 16 years. None of these children and young people has any rights to residency or citizenship despite being born or growing up here.

I echo the comment of my colleague, Senator Sherlock. People all over the world are able to claim Irish citizenship by virtue of lineage but those who have been living and growing up here, who are part of our school system and whose parents have been working here are now growing into adulthood and do not have that automatic right.

I will quickly talk about some of the impacts that growing up undocumented has on young people. An area about which I particularly care, but rarely talk about, is that of access to higher and further education. The children of undocumented parents do not have the same access to post-second level education as their peers. It is incredible to think that these children have come through the Irish schools system, including primary school and all the rough and tumble that comes with it, the junior certificate and the leaving certificate, and that they have often become Gaeilgeoirí who speak Irish better than many of us, but cannot access further and higher education in the same way as Irish citizens. That has a really severe knock-on impact on their sense of self, of belonging and of what they can contribute. As I always say, not everyone has to go on to further and higher education. That is a choice for people to make. For a group of people who have been here and who have been participants in Irish society to be locked out of this opportunity for growth and learning, however, makes me very sad. We need not go into the knock-on impacts of not being able to access education such as low-paid work and cycles of poverty. These young people have a valuable contribution to make.

I will not go on too much longer because I know my other colleagues want to speak. There is a mental stress and burden on people. Senator Clifford-Lee talked about Eric and said that there has been many other Erics since then. It must be really frightening for children to know that they could, at some point, get a call telling them they have to leave. It is not good enough that the reason these children do not end up having to leave is that parents, schoolteachers and schoolchildren stage sit-ins and other protests and organise petitions. That is not how we should treat young people who were born here, who live here and who belong here. It is not good enough that they must face this fear and mental stress.

There is also the matter of fear and stigma. Particularly in recent times, there has been a real stoking of racism and anti-migrant sentiment. I talk to my friends in the Mosney direct provision centre.We hear all the time about incidents of racism, exclusion, taunting and other stuff. It is just not good enough.

As I stated, I am very glad to be part of a party that is putting forward this Bill. I commend my colleague, Senator Bacik, on leading on this issue and I commend Labour Youth on its Born Here, Belong Here campaign and on being a progressive youth voice for change. There has been some terribly unpleasant stuff hurled at the young members of my party who are putting forward this progressive vision for Ireland, namely, that those who are born here belong here and that all are welcome. They are doing astounding work.

In 2004, I was too young to vote in the referendum, although I was acutely aware of what was happening. I am very glad that, 16 years on, I will have an opportunity to vote on this issue and, I hope, to right some of the wrongs done in 2004. I remind anyone watching these proceedings that this is about children. It is about children who were born here and who I, my Labour Party colleagues and, I think, many other Senators believe belong here. They are very welcome. I look forward to working with the Minister and my colleagues to get the Bill over the line.