TONY JORDAN,
A chara, - I do not accept William Binchy's assertion (Opinion & Analysis, February 1st) that the recent decision by the Supreme Court on the residency rights of non-EU parents of children born here "is yet another example of the deference to the Executive power which has characterised the Supreme Court in recent years".
He wishes the Supreme Court to vindicate the rights of families over some initiatives by the Oireachtas, even when these initiatives are inspired by concern to protect or advance the common good. The rights of newly born babies to exercise their residency rights are dependent on their parents' ability to rear and care for them. If those families have no residency rights per se, it is anomalous to expect that they assume those automatically.
The family has a right and a duty to assert its baby's rights, wherever the family has a bona fide domicile. The Constitution upholds the rights of the family, but the latter has the primary responsibility. If babies are brought into families as a bargaining factor to acquire residency rights, then this is an abuse of the Constitution, as well as discriminating against bona fide asylum- seekers.
In my opinion the Supreme Court has brought some common sense to bear on a most difficult and tragic situation. - Yours, etc.,
TONY JORDAN, Gilford Road, Dublin 4.