Referendum: Yes campaignThe Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, has claimed the Chen case raises the prospect of Ireland becoming "the destination of choice" for migrants seeking the benefits of EU citizenship.
He said such an outcome was likely if the European Court of Justice upheld a preliminary ruling which said that a Chinese mother and her Irish-born daughter were entitled to live in any EU country on account of the child's Irish citizenship.
"In such circumstances, a constitutional amendment would have to be passed with some urgency." It was better to deal in advance with the issues through the current referendum instead of tackling them retrospectively.
Mr Cowen urged voters to support the referendum to enable "genuine migrants" to come to Ireland "free of aspersions as to their motives".
He said the referendum proposal was a modest one designed to preserve the integrity of Irish citizenship, and maintain "the spirit of generosity and openness which has always characterised the approach of Irish people in this sensitive area".
The draft legislation which would follow a Yes vote "still leaves us, as I've said, with one of the most liberal citizenship regimes in Europe", he said.
"I think that it's important for those people who are not of Irish ancestry who come to this country and wish to be citizens and wish to contribute ... that there be no unfair aspersions on the motives of those people either."
Mr Cowen attacked the anti-referendum stances of Labour MEP Mr Proinsias de Rossa and Sinn Féin TD Mr Aengus Ó Snodaigh.
"It seems to me that there are many on the left, to use a current phrase, who are seeking to outdo one another in invective, and who are congenitally incapable of dealing with this issue without losing their head."
The Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs, Ms Coughlan, rejected claims by the Ombudsman for Children, Ms Emily Logan, that the citizenship referendum proposal may breach the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Ms Coughlan, Fianna Fáil's director of elections for the referendum, said there was no right of citizenship "for the country of birth" under the UN convention.
All children in Ireland were "fully protected" under domestic and international law, regardless of their nationality.
"In this country presently, as you know, there are tens of thousands of children who are illegally here; they're non-nationals, and they are fully protected under Irish law.
"And in no way are we going to undermine the fundamental rights of any child in this country."
Ms Coughlan and Mr Cowen were speaking at the publication of a Fianna Fáil leaflet which cites "six reasons to vote Yes".
It says a Yes vote "will maintain the system whereby people who do not acquire Irish citizenship at birth can apply for it after a number of years' residency in Ireland through the naturalisation process".
