O’Donnell makes dramatic intervention in citizenship debate

LIZ O’DONNELL’S dramatic intervention in the citizenship referendum debate yesterday was surprising: not in what she had to say but that it has taken her so long to say it.

Her disclosure at the British-Irish parliamentary meeting in west Cork yesterday that she had misgivings about the timing of the referendum is utterly consistent with her views on the subject.

As Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, with a strong brief in human rights and overseas development aid in the 1997-2002 Government, she adopted outspoken stances on the issue of refugees that put her at odds with colleagues.

Her most direct criticism was made in autumn 1999 when she described her own Government’s refugee problems as a “shambles”. This followed chaotic scenes outside the refugee application centre in Dublin and was seen as an indirect criticism of then Justice Minister John O’Donoghue.

In 2001, when Mr O’Donoghue and Fianna Fáil colleagues mooted a referendum, along the lines of June’s Constitutional amendment, Ms O’Donnell led the internal opposition to it within Government and succeeded in getting the proposals shelved.

She again spoke out prominently during the 2002 general election campaign after election literature appeared parodying her as the “queen of illegal refugees”.

Yesterday, she became the first deputy on the Government side to express misgivings about the referendum taking place on the same day as the local and European elections.

She did add in a rider, however: “Over the coming weeks, we will get a better understanding of the issues.”

“I think there will be time enough for people to be clear and for the race card not to be played,” she said.

Still, her views again put her at odds with the Government and her party colleagues, Mary Harney and Michael McDowell, both of whom have forcefully defended the timing of the referendum.

The PDs last night said that Ms O’Donnell had expressed an opinion, which she was entitled to do.