Unusual, uneasy alliances make up both sides of referendum campaign
The Fianna Fáil-PD coalition government, Fine Gael, independent European election candidate Justin Barrett, and the Immigration Control Platform, among others.
The abrasive Justice Minister is leading the charge on this one both for the coalition as a whole and the PD half to which he owes his allegiance. Graduated in economics and politics from UCD before turning his attention to law. Began practicing as a barrister in 1974 and as a senior counsel in 1987, the year in which he was first elected to the Dáil from the Dublin South-East constituency. Has refused to take prisoners when debating the citizenship issue:
“The amount of wishful thinking and wilful blindness to the realities of the situation from (opponents of the referendum) in recent weeks has, I think, done the public debate and the standards expected from those claiming expertise little or no credit.”
Vocal on the issue but not in the way one would expect. Fine Gael is advising its supporters to vote yes, but, in an unusual move for a political party, is declining to campaign to secure such a vote.
“As Fine Gael believes that this sensitive issue should not be politicised in any way, the party will not be campaigning actively on the referendum,” says Kenny, who has represented Mayo in the Dáil continuously since 1975. Instead, Kenny has focused his efforts on criticising the Government for the manner in which it has brought forward the referendum.
“Apart from his failure to consult political parties and other relevant groups north and south, the (Justice) Minister has used inflammatory language in the Dáil in a way which brought no credit to the office which he holds. Minister McDowell must take responsibility for the adversarial and divisive debate we have seen to date.”
Unlike the party to which he once belonged (young Fine Gael), Barrett has no problems campaigning for a yes vote.
The referendum, he says, “will not solve the central problem, which is an asylum process which has turned Ireland from a ‘soft landing’ for those genuinely fleeing persecution into a ‘soft touch’ for fraudsters ... But at least it is the beginning of some action being taken.”
Well-known for his prominent role in Youth Defence and his stance in previous referendums (anti-abortion, anti-Nice Treaty), Barrett, who lives in Longford with his family, is running as an independent candidate in the East constituency in the European elections.
The Immigration Control Platform man is running in the local elections for a seat on Dublin City Council, with a view to representing the Cabra/Glasnevin area. Unsurprisingly, the platform is behind the referendum.
“Mass immigration and ‘multiculturalism’ has been forced on this community,” Talbot says. His election leaflet tells more: “Pat Talbot believes in the rights of a sovereign and independent Ireland, and puts Irish people first for jobs, housing, and welfare entitlements.”
A broad coalition of political parties and organisations under the banner Campaign Against the Racist Referendum (CARR). This includes Labour, Sinn Féin, the Green Party, the Socialist Workers’ Party, the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, Lawyers Against the Amendment and more.
The former is Regius Professor of Laws at Trinity College Dublin, the latter Reid Professor of Criminal Law at the same university. They are the leading figures behind Lawyers Against the Amendment, a group of approximately 150 lawyers who are opposed to the referendum. There, however, the similarities end. Binchy is pro-life, Bacik pro-choice, and the pair were polar opposites in the last abortion referendum. Binchy has twice failed to be elected to the Seanad; Bacik will stand for Labour in the Dublin area in the European elections.
“The amendment targets innocent children by denying them citizenship and reducing the extent of their protection under the Constitution to an unknown degree,” says Binchy.
“Rushing into a referendum, on the same date as the local and European elections is just about the worst way to change fundamental tenets of our citizenship law,” says Bacik. “We should oppose this referendum, which puts political expediency over constitutional integrity.”
The director of the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) is firmly against the referendum, believing the citizenship proposal would “undermine and corrupt the principle of equality in the Constitution, and violate the commitment to ‘cherish all the children of the nation’ equally”.
Reidy, a barrister, joined the ICCL from the Hague, where she worked as a legal officer in the prosecutor’s office at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. She had previously worked as the senior human rights policy advisor for the Council of Europe in Kosovo.
Like her party colleagues, the Sinn Féin candidate for Dublin in the European elections isn’t exactly enamoured with Michael McDowell. Sinn Féin is opposing the citizenship referendum, which it believes is “racist and in violation of the Good Friday Agreement”. McDonald, a Trinity graduate and former researcher for the Institute of European Affairs, has been happy to strike back any time McDowell speaks out on either the referendum or on Sinn Féin.
“The Minister for Justice has repeatedly undermined republicanism in Ireland, he is rewriting the Good Friday Agreement with his proposed referendum and putting the peace process at risk for narrow party political gain in the forthcoming elections.”
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