The Taoiseach: The Taoiseach asserted there was a "clear and systematic" abuse of Ireland's constitutional right to citizenship.
Mr Ahern said a solution had to be identified in a rational way. "That is what this referendum is about. It is obvious that citizenship is a fundamental aspect of our political system. But citizenship is not only concerned with rights. It is about duties and responsibilities. It is about the relationship between the State and its citizens and the duties of citizens toward other citizens. Abuse can devalue our sense of citizenship. And this we need to prevent."
He added that the referendum would confer on the Oireachtas power to legislate for the conditions for the granting of citizenship to children of non-nationals.
"We will not be unique in this respect. All other member-states of the EU provide for the acquisition of citizenship through legislation or regulation. None of these member-states has a constitutional right to citizenship by virtue of birth in their territory.
"Notwithstanding that this is so, and even after the proposed amendment is passed, we will still provide for the right to citizenship for certain categories of persons in our Constitution. However, the right to acquire Irish citizenship for persons born in Ireland, who do not have at least one parent who is an Irish citizen or entitled to become an Irish citizen, will now be regulated by statute."
Recalling his years as minister for justice in the last government, the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, Mr O'Donoghue, said he had been met with the basest charge of all: that the policies he was pursuing were racist.
"It mattered little that nothing could have been further from the truth, but the truth had become the enemy. Let it not become the enemy again."
He added that on numerous occasions he had explained to the House and elsewhere that an open-door policy on immigration would be catastrophic for Ireland.
The Minister for Health, Mr Martin, said the Rotunda Hospital had seen non-national births increase from about 350 in 1998 to 1,951 in 2003. Non-national births accounted for over 29 per cent of births at the hospital in 2003.
The National Maternity Hospital reported that non-national births had increased from 1,460 in 2002 to 1,707 in 2003, and accounted for over 20 per cent of births at the hospital in 2003.
"Non-national births can give rise to particular difficulties in their care. Often mothers first present to the hospitals in advanced stages of pregnancy, frequently unscheduled and with significant medical complications. This has placed additional strain on nursing and medical staff, as well as a growth in laboratory and social work caseloads."
