Labour has claimed that the joint declaration by the British and Irish governments that the proposed citizenship referendum would not breach the British- Irish Agreement is "a classic diversionary tactic" and fails to address the concerns of political parties North and South.
The party's justice spokesman, Mr Joe Costello, said yesterday that in their declaration on Monday night the governments had responded to an argument that nobody had been making.
While the declaration said that the Government's proposal did not contravene the British-Irish Agreement, the Opposition here and the parties in the North had said that it contravened the Belfast Agreement, he maintained.
The Belfast Agreement includes two separate agreements reached on Good Friday 1998.
The first is the Multi-Party Agreement containing the deal done between the Northern Ireland political parties. The second is the British-Irish Agreement covering the obligations of the two governments agreed on that date. Each agreement is annexed to the other.
The term "The Good Friday Agreement" is used interchangeably with the term "The Belfast Agreement".
In their joint declaration, the Irish and British governments asserted that the referendum to remove the constitutional right to Irish citizenship from children born on the island of Ireland to non-national parents did not breach the British-Irish Agreement.
However Mr Costello said the redrafted wording of Article 2 of the Constitution - which confers the right of citizenship to all children born on the island - was set out verbatim in the Belfast Agreement, not in the British-Irish Agreement.
Therefore these were not negotiated solely between the two governments, but were agreed between the Northern Ireland political parties.
In the British-Irish Agreement, he went on, the two governments had affirmed their solemn commitment to support, and where appropriate implement, the provisions of the Belfast Agreement.
He disputed the statement by the two governments that it had never been their intention that the agreement would "impose on either government any obligation to confer nationality or citizenship on persons born in any part of the island of Ireland whose parents do not have sufficient connection with the island of Ireland".
He said this was contradicted by a letter sent by the Taoiseach on April 20th, 1998, to the then Labour Party leader, Mr Ruairí Quinn, which said: "One effect of the new Article will undoubtedly be to confer an entitlement to Irish citizenship on persons born in Northern Ireland irrespective of their family background or the circumstances of their birth in Northern Ireland.
"We do not contemplate any change in the jus soli rule [the principle that a person's nationality is determined by the territory of birth]. Considerations of peace in Northern Ireland would outweigh any concerns related to immigration."
In a further letter dated May 21st 1998 the Taoiseach said: "I can assure you that in the event of Article 2 and 3 taking effect, no legislation will be proposed by this government to the Oireachtas which imposes restrictions on the entitlement to Irish nationality and citizenship of persons born in Ireland".
Mr Costello said there was now a real danger of "mortal damage" to the Belfast Agreement. He called on the Government to refer the whole citizenship issue to the Oireachtas Committee on the Constitution, which could also hear the North's political parties.