The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, said today Ireland would continue liberal citizenship after a Yes vote in the referendum on June 11th.
Canvassing in Dublin, the Taoiseach said that the constitutional referendum on citizenship has one "single and straightforward purpose. There is a loophole in our citizenship law that is open to abuse. Voting Yes will close that loophole."
The Taoiseach hit out at reports in recent days which suggest that children born in Ireland might be rendered stateless as a result. He said that these claims were "unfounded".
"Any child born in Ireland who would for some reason not be entitled to citizenship in any other state would now and would continue to be automatically entitled to Irish citizenship."
He also said that the claim that the Constitutional change resulting from the Yes vote would affect the human rights of children was "another unfounded claim."
"To the contrary," he said, "every person in Ireland regardless of whether they are citizens or not is fully entitled under national and international law to have their human rights fully respected. It is a separate matter for the people of every country to decide to whom and under what circumstances they grant citizenship."
The Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell today hit out at Labour TD, Mr Michael D. Higgins, over remarks he made on RTE Radio this morning.
Mr Higgins was using case studies based on the law in Ireland, Germany, Turkey and Nigeria. But Mr McDowell claimed in a statement that Mr Higgins had gotten the law of all the four countries wrong and called on him to "withdraw his erroneous statements if he has any interest in a factually-based public debate on the important matter of the citizenship referendum."