Between 40 to 50 per cent of non-nationals giving birth in the State do so to obtain an Irish passport, the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell claimed this evening.
Mr McDowell said there were approximately 4,400 births to non-EU nationals in the three Dublin maternity hospitals last year.
He believed that "40 or 50 per cent of those [non-nationals] having children in Ireland" are motivated by a desire to have Irish citizenship for their children. There were 22,895 births in the three Dublin maternity hospitals.
The Minister's comments followed the second day of debate in the Dáil on the issue, during which evidence supporting the Government's contention that "citizenship tourism" was placing maternity services under severe strain resurfaced with speakers quoting different figures.
Speaking on RTÉ radio, Mr McDowell also sought to defuse a row about the approach made to him by the Masters of the Dublin maternity hospitals.
He insisted he had never suggested the Masters had sought a referendum, "but they did ask me to make changes and to tighten up the immigration system."
Mr McDowell said he told the Masters he was constrained by the constitution and could not make legislative changes. The advice from the Attorney General was that if "I want to affect the citizenship right of children born in Ireland I must do it by constitutional means."
Mr McDowell said the Masters had reiterated as late as last July the difficulties caused by the rate of non-national births.
The Minister also responded to a his Government colleague Mr Barry Andrews, TD for Dún Laoghaire, who questioned in the Dáil today the decision to hold the referendum on June 11th, when the number of refugee applications was falling.
"You have to ask in these circumstances when is the appropriate time to do it? Do we do it on a day [as] a single stand alone issue referendum where 15 per cent of the people might come out on one side and 12 per cent on the other?" Mr McDowell asked. This could lead to an unrepresentative turnout, similar to the first vote on the Nice treaty, he added.
The Minister said he had chosen the June 11th date because that was when Irish people would be voting in the European and local elections and "while they are doing that to express there view on this subject." He said the case for running it on the same day is "is unanswerable."
The Minister said he would abide by the verdict of the referendum.
Earlier today Dr Seán Daly, Master of the Coombe, and Dr Michael Geary, Master of the Rotunda, issued a statement saying three options, including a referendum, had been suggested in a meeting with McDowell. However, they did not express a view on the way forward they did ask for additional resources.