Madam, - Ivana Bacik (May 5th) points out that many of the babies born in this country to non-national mothers may have Irish fathers. While this is undoubtedly true, this fact hardly undermines the Government's case for the referendum.
It seems to me that a Yes vote will make a positive distinction between babies born to non-national mothers who have a genuine link with this country by virtue of having an Irish father, or by virtue of one of the parents having lived in this country for three of the previous four years, and those whose parents have no link with Ireland.
The current situation equates the rights of children born to parents whose only connection with this country is a last-minute trip to one of our maternity hospitals with those born to parents who have worked here for many years. This is an injustice to immigrants who have genuinely contributed much to this country. It also undermines public confidence in our immigration system.
The referendum proposition is a simple one and should be supported. - Yours, etc.,
KEVIN DOYLE, Rathfarnham, Dublin 14.
Madam, - Tom Sheedy (May 5th) writes that Ireland has a long tradition of awarding citizenship at birth to all children born here and that our membership of the EU does not require us to change this tradition.
Yet the details of the Chen case in the UK, which has been covered in this paper, show that non-EU nationals are using our weak citizenship laws to circumvent immigration controls in other EU countries.
Irish citizenship, and the EU citizenship that comes with it, should be protected from abuse. Awarding citizenship rights to the children of parents who have been in this country less than a week completely undermines the integrity of Irish, and EU, citizenship.
While we may not have any legal obligation to our EU partners to stop non-EU nationals claiming rights in other EU states based on the most tenuous of links with this country, surely we have a moral obligation as fellow Europeans to do so. - Yours, etc.,
MARIA O'BRIEN, Stillorgan, Co Dublin.
Madam, - It is indeed a pity that Ivana Bacik (May 5th) is so out of touch that her complaints about the Government's decision to address, in the most minimal fashion, the widespread abuse of our immigration laws fail to recognise that the electorate to which she is offering herself to as a European election candidate actually wants something done about this abuse.
Her cantankerous and undemocratic stance on the citizenship referendum will most probably result in her candidature not being successful. - Yours, etc.,
EOIN McMAHON, Northumberland Road, Dublin 4.