Madam, - The acknowledged reason for holding a referendum constitutionally to define citizenship more finely is, apparently, to alleviate pressure on maternity hospitals; this is not a good reason to seek a change in the fundamental law of Ireland. There may be unacknowledged reasons.
Be that as it may, it seems that there will be proposed an amendment to allow citizenship to be withheld from some children born in Ireland who would, under the present constitutional provisions, be entitled to it.
The question before each of us is only this: is it a good or bad thing to withhold citizenship from some who, under the present constitutional provisions, are entitled to it? No reason that the Government has, or admits to having, for holding a referendum is relevant.
No doubt those parents who come to Ireland that their children may be born here think that they are providing their children with something valuable. Why otherwise would they come? (They are not availing of a loophole in the law but of a right clearly expressed in the fundamental law of Ireland).
The question before each elector becomes: do I want the Constitution of Ireland to continue to offer this right?
One reason - and it is quite implausible to suppose that no elector will have it - for withdrawing the right is that some of the children will be from sub-Saharan Africa.
Oddly enough, one reason for choosing to maintain the right is the same, namely, that some children will be from sub-Saharan Africa. For it is possible, and, I hope sufficiently common, that some electors will consider that to have Irish citizens of African descent is not simply acceptable but positively advantageous.
Even if one supposes, for the same of argument, that the referendum will have nothing to do with precisely where the parents of future citizens or non-citizens come from, it remains the case that the present constitutional provision allows them come from anywhere; the only condition is that they be born in Ireland. An amendment, however it is phrased, will change this.
This is what the referendum will be about. While acknowledging that maternity hospitals are overworked, can one honestly imagine many voting for that reason? - Yours, etc.,
GARRET BARDEN, Duke's Mill, Tallow, Co Waterford.
Madam, - Michael McDowell's plan for a constitutional referendum to strip Irish-born children of non-nationals of their citizenship is an insult to democracy and common decency.
Ireland is now a wealthy country. This country should welcome those who come here from less fortunate nations as wealthy nations once welcomed the Irish.
Mr McDowell's proposition is the thin end of the wedge. Once recent citizens are stripped of their rights who is next? The Chinese? The Protestants? The Jews?
The minister's plan is the first sign of a resurrected and harmful nationalism. Mr McDowell has found himself an election gimmick that attracts the part of the population who want a mythical Ireland that is 100 per cent Gaelic, Catholic and white. Mr McDowell is in danger of letting the cultural genie out of its bottle. - Yours, etc.,
SIMON WREST, Kiln Lane, Mountrath, Co Laois.