Rebecca Moynihan (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I will try to make my points as quickly as possible. I am proud to support my Labour Party colleagues who drafted this Bill, particularly Senator Bacik. The Labour Party campaign was spearheaded by our comrade, Cormac Ó Braonáin, who has been on my mind a great deal over the last couple of days as I watch Christmas lights going up and I recall the tragedy of his death last year. It is fitting that we are discussing this Bill as the first anniversary of his death approaches. Cormac believed in this campaign because he was a young man with passion and compassion. This Bill is about a passion for equality between the children of this island and compassion in the sense that no child should be left behind or have to live under the shadow of his or her being deported to a country to which he or she has no connection.

Ireland is a country of immigrants. We should appreciate more the difficulty and insecurity of not having a legal right to remain in a country. The Cathaoirleach has been very active regarding the rights of the undocumented in the US, yet we have many undocumented in this country and many of them have children. My Labour Party colleagues and I will support the Government in the context of the programme for Government commitment to regularise the rights of the undocumented. I pay tribute to the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Deputy O'Gorman, and the Green Party for their work to get that into the programme for Government.

I stand shoulder to shoulder with the undocumented in this country as they seek the same treatment that we ask from US politicians. I remind the House that in March next year or, perhaps, the following year when we don our green rags to advocate for the Irish undocumented, another basic principle of the US is that the children born there, for whatever reason, are entitled to US citizenship and can become US President. One of the basic provisions of this Bill is that all children born here are equal and have the right to the protection of this State. Simply put by my Labour youth colleagues, children born here belong here.

The Migrant Rights Council of Ireland which does incredible work on this and many other issues for migrants in Ireland estimates that there are between 2,000 and 5,000 children who are undocumented and do not have citizenship. Behind each of these numbers there is a story, a child with friends, hobbies, dreams and a Dublin, Cork, Meath or Mayo accent. They are Irish children. We hear in this House that the referendum in 2004 was not a mean-spirited in nature, but it was. That referendum weaponised fear among people in 2004. I recall tales of pregnancy tourism, open borders and anchor children. The people who are suffering the consequences of the framing of that discussion, which was unnecessary, are children born on this island.

Another referendum that used the same scare tactic of the unknown people who come here, displaying images of immigration into Britain, was that relating to Brexit. It gives me an uneasy feeling knowing that many of the people who voted to leave in that referendum based on the issue of immigration have more of a right to an Irish passport, with no requirement to visit here let alone live here, than children who live in this country.

I commend the Minister on her speech and on agreeing to work with all Senators across this House to right the wrong that was done 16 years ago. Let us continue to work together to make sure that we do that for all of the children born on this island.