Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

There are many points I wanted to make on this Bill but, given that it is very important that we get to vote against this highly problematic addition to legislation, I will keep them very brief. Others have gone through the many problems with how this is supposed to operate in great detail. These problems range from the fact that people may be sent a message on a website to the highly opaque qualities of the committee that is to decide on this life-changing and immensely important issue and the fact that, other than the Minister's stated intent, there are no clear measures to prevent the creation of statelessness. To be clear, the State is required to have measures to ensure that statelessness is not created.

This comes back to a fundamental point. Senator Clonan is right; this creates two-tier citizenship. Fundamentally, if you are a citizen, you should be a citizen. That is particularly important in a republic because republics are based on the idea of all citizens coming together. Republics are meant to be built on the principle of equality, which is quite different from what certain other states are built on. We cannot have a situation in which not all of the citizens of a republic are fundamentally equal. We could also talk about the tests in respect of the acquisition of citizenship and naturalisation, including the test prescribed in AP v. Minister for Justice and others. There are discussions in that regard but, fundamentally, once you have acquired citizenship, you need to be a citizen on an equal basis. Otherwise, it does not work as an equal republic and it is bad for democracy. I have seen situations in other places where migrants who have become citizens live in fear. They do not know if they can go to a political protest or criticise a policy. They are at risk of abuse as somebody with secure citizenship can be in a position of power over those who have the risk of their citizenship being revoked hanging over them. It creates the same kinds of abuses of power we have seen and had to tackle in many other areas, although now it is happening between citizens.

Although I note it is the Government that is currently breaking the law in the area of migration because it is failing to comply with the court judgments against it in that regard, where an individual citizen commits a crime, we have a courts system to prosecute, penalise and punish that person. We are now talking about something different that does not even apply only to criminal acts but to fidelity in a wider sense. We are not using the Offences Against the State Act. If an action is really serious, we should look to that Act. Let us tie it to something serious and concrete and talk about what it means to offend against the State as a whole. Instead, it is a question of fidelity. That is deeply authoritarian language, particularly for a Government that has blurred the line between state and government. People constantly see "Government of Ireland" strapped to public services provided by the State. There is a real question here. Do you show a lack of fidelity if you do not step forward to cheerlead for the State or if you believe that Ireland has a public policy that is wrong? Whether or not that is how the State interprets it, that potential for authoritarianism sends an intimidatory message to many citizens across the State. It creates a culture of fear.

It is fundamental that we do not move forward with this very poorly designed and badly scrutinised proposal. Others have outlined the technical details but it is fundamentally something that will be bad for everyone in this State and bad for us as a republic.