No basis to citizenship tourism, says study

THE Children’s Rights Alliance has challenged supporters of a “Yes” vote in the citizenship referendum to justify the need for the constitutional amendment to restrict citizenship rights for the children of non-nationals.

The results of an independent study commissioned by the CRA, which were published yesterday, suggest there is no basis to the "citizenship tourism" argument used by the Government to justify holding the referendum.

The CRA a coalition of over 70 non-governmental organisations including Amnesty International, Barnardos and the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children also criticised Government representatives for citing "uncertain and highly subjective" anecdotal evidence to support their case.

The alliance described as "misleading" the Government's claims that a recent Supreme Court ruling which removed parentage of an Irish-born child as grounds for residency had not affected the number of pregnant foreigners giving birth within the State.

The CRA study said the Supreme Court decision combined with other immigration policies had a significant effect on the number of people applying for asylum.

"The figures suggest that legislative and policy measures are an effective way of controlling immigration and that they offer an alternative to Constitutional change" the report said.

A CRA spokesperson said the Government had failed to provided any statistics to vindicate claims that large numbers of non-EU nationals are travelling to Ireland solely to give birth.

While 548 women from outside the EU arrived unannounced or in the late stages of pregnancy at Dublin hospitals last year, the CRA said the figure represents just 2.4% of the total number of births at the three facilities.

"It is not possible to demonstrate that the increase in births to non-national women is substantially attributable to the fact that their children are entitled to Irish citizenship," the study concludes.

The report was released last night following a report in yesterday's Irish Examiner showing there was direct evidence to suggest the existence of "citizenship tourism".