The Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, yesterday ruled out an amnesty for thousands of parents seeking residency on the basis of having an Irish-born child. Carl O'Brien reports.
Fresh estimates by the Minister suggest there are around 17,000 parents waiting for such applications to be processed by the State. However, he said an amnesty could affect up to 35,000 people when children and family members abroad were included.
The applications have been in doubt since a Supreme Court ruling in January 2003 found that non-national parents were not entitled to remain in the State on the basis of having an Irish-born child.
The Minister faced Opposition calls for an amnesty during a select committee debate over the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Bill (2004). This legislation arises from last June's referendum on the issue.
Mr McDowell said an amnesty would cause "chaos". Instead individual applications would be dealt with in a "common sense, pragmatic and decent" manner once the legislation was enacted.
He said he could see the "moral force" of granting residency to a family whose children have been attending school here for several years and who were integrated into the community.
However, there was "no moral case whatsoever" for a non-national family who, for example, had been residing in Britain on a temporary basis, and who moved here to have a child without any ties to Ireland.
Fine Gael's justice spokesman, Mr Jim O'Keeffe TD, said the Minister was asking the Opposition to take a "leap in the dark" by insisting that he would deal with the outstanding applications once the legislation was enacted.
Mr Joe Costello TD, Labour's justice spokesman, said he was unhappy at the lack of firm figures relating to the number of people affected by planned changes to the State's citizenship laws.
"I'm a bit alarmed at the Minister's guesstimates, and it seems little effort has been made to draw on figures from birth certs, maternity hospitals and passport information.
"How can he act in relation to his own argument unless he has the information?"
Sinn Féin's justice spokesman, Mr Aengus Ó Snodaigh, said an amnesty should apply for outstanding residency applications on the basis of an Irish-born child which are made up until the enactment of the Citizenship Bill.
The Opposition amendments seeking an amnesty for outstanding applicants were defeated. The Government is seeking to have the Bill enacted before the end of the Dáil term.
The Bill provides that such children can become citizens if one parent has resided legally in the State for more than three years
Mr Costello unsuccessfully sought an amendment that the three-year period of legal residency could include time following the birth of the child.
Mr McDowell, however, said if a parent had not resided legally in the State for more than three years, the parent or family could still apply for citizenship if they lived in the country for five years.