The Green Party has called for a 'No' vote in the upcoming citizenship referendum and accused the Government of trying to rush the proposal through without proper debate.
The party's justice spokesman, Mr Ciarán Cuffe said the Greens were "appalled" at the attempt by the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, "to push this proposal through without proper debate".
"The Minister for Justice should not cobble together referendum proposals behind closed doors," Mr Cuffe said. "We must have a mature debate and a significant consultation period prior to considering a referendum on the crucial issue of citizenship."
He said the Greens were trying to stop the Government from proceeding with the vote, which is being held on the same day as the European and local elections on June 11th.
The party leader, Mr Trevor Sargent claimed the Government was trying "to create an impression that problems with our health service can somehow be blamed on non-nationals who suffer like everybody else from the underfunding of the health service".
He said if it were not for many non-nationals, there would be an even greater shortage of medical staff in Ireland.