The Coalition Government has announced its intention to hold a referendum to remove the automatic right to citizenship from children born here to non-nationals.
It is justifying the action on the grounds that it will reduce the pressure being placed on Dublin maternity hospitals by pregnant, illegal immigrants. And while a formal decision has not yet been taken to link the plebiscite with the local authority and European Parliament elections on June 11th, that is the preferred option of some ministers.
The lack of public consultation and debate on such a fundamental issue as Irish citizenship is a cause for concern. Opposition parties were given 30 minutes advance notice of the announcement. The rushed nature of the initiative and the possibility that debate may, without clear and compelling justification for the amendment, inflame racial prejudices during the coming elections should ring alarm bells for society. In order to secure its objective, the Government will have to amend or qualify Article 2 of the Constitution, part of the terms of the Belfast Agreement, and any meddling of that nature could have unforeseen consequences also.
Pressure on maternity hospital facilities in Dublin is hardly a compelling reason for a referendum, particularly as the problem can be addressed by providing extra resources. The same urgency has not been apparent where the Government's commitment to free up more development land for housing is concerned. On the face of it, there are more pressing issues.
The population of the capital is growing rapidly. The number of non-nationals working here has increased. We are led to believe that a major problem exists, with illegal immigrants coming here in the final stages of pregnancy. Yet a total of 239 women presented without appointment, or within 10 days of delivery, at the National Maternity Hospital, last year.
Ireland is the only EU state where an automatic right of citizenship is accorded to every child born here. For some years, asylum-seeking families and illegal immigrants have exploited this provision in their efforts to gain residency status. In 1990, the Supreme Court ruled that a grave and substantial reason was required to justify splitting a family and deporting those members who were not Irish-born. But, as the numbers involved increased, the State sought to protect the "integrity" of the asylum system and its deportation arrangements. The Supreme Court significantly modified its earlier judgment and upheld the right of the Minister for Justice to deport families with children born in Ireland last year.
Last Thursday, the Catholic bishops said that the "only moral response" to 11,000 special-case immigrant families with Irish-born children who had applied for residency rights before last year's Supreme Court judgment was to let them stay. There are humanitarian issues to be addressed. What status will be accorded to the pregnant Filipina nurse with a work permit? A two-tiered citizenship sits uneasily with Ireland's long emigrant history.