The proposed citizenship amendment would introduce discrimination between children born in Ireland, and deprive some of them of full constitutional protection, according to Prof William Binchy.
Prof Binchy, who is also a member of the Human Rights Commission, was speaking yesterday at the launch of a group opposing the amendment, Lawyers Against the Citizenship Amendment. A statement signed by 150 practising and academic lawyers, urging a No vote, was issued at the launch.
The statement says: "We believe that the proposal has been developed with undue haste. We are against the holding of a referendum in the absence of full consultation and analysis. We believe that the case for the referendum has not been made out.
"We further believe that, if passed, the referendum would create constitutional ambiguities, in particular relating to the scope of constitutional protection for children born in Ireland to non-national parents, and in regard to the implications for Article 2 of the Constitution.
"There is a series of court judgments where non-citizens have been found to have less rights than citizens," said Prof Binchy. He said that the words "Notwithstanding any other provision of this Constitution" in effect removed the constitutional protections offered by various other Articles in the constitution, when it came to legislating for citizenship.
"Future legislation on citizenship could exclude members of unpopular nationalities or unpopular religions," he said.
The prospect of introducing such discrimination ran counter to international human rights standards, he said.
Ms Ivana Bacik, Reid Professor of Law in Trinity College and a practising barrister, said that no case had been made for the referendum. "There has been no Green Paper on citizenship, no consultation with Opposition parties nor with the all-party Committee on the Constitution, nor with the Human Rights Commissions, North or South."
The Minister for Justice dismissed the signatories as "a tiny minority". Speaking to journalists Mr McDowell said: "The majority of lawyers in conversation with me have said the referendum is necessary. A small minority will always tog out on these occasions. The same proportion will vote No.
"Manufactured reasons for voting against this referendum should be rejected. It has been suggested that it will create two classes of children. That's manufactured and fanciful. The Constitution applies to all children."
The charges levelled by the lawyers' group were "outlandish", declared the Minister for Social and Family Affairs, Ms Coughlan, who is in charge of Fianna Fáil's pro-referendum campaign, writes Mark Hennessy.
"(They) have set out a series of outlandish claims that are clearly designed to confuse the public on what is a straightforward and sensible proposal," she said.
"The lawyers' case is clearly designed to distract the public from the exploitation of our citizenship laws, highlighted by the Chen case, to circumvent immigration controls in other EU states. If the referendum is passed, and the Government's draft legislation is adopted, there will continue to be no racial basis whatsoever to Irish citizenship."