Nigeria made citizenship abuse warning

THE Nigerian government warned the Taoiseach last year that Ireland’s loose citizenship laws were well-known internationally and were being abused, Bertie Ahern told TDs yesterday.

Defending the Government's holding of the citizenship referendum against criticism from the Human Rights Commission, Mr Ahern told that Dáil the Nigerian leaders wondered why the laws were not being tightened.

After Labour Party leader Pat Rabbitte questioned the necessity for the referendum, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern replied that members of the public wondered why people from southern Nigeria and elsewhere bypass Brussels, London and Paris to come to this country.

"When I spoke with the President and Foreign Minister of Nigeria last year they told me I did not ask them that it was well known around the world that our citizenship laws were easy game.

"They wondered why we did not tighten our laws why we loosened them when everyone else was tightening them," the Taoiseach said.

Mr Ahern also said there are children in schools from various countries and people from many different parts of the world living in our communities.

"People distinguish between the nationalities they like and those they do not like. They form their own views on that, but they do so in a low-key way and there is no great hatred, bitterness or racism in our society. There is no necessity for it," he said.

That Taoiseach added the Attorney General had advised there would be no breach of any laws or of the Good Friday Agreement by amending the Constitution.

Accusing the Minister for Justice Michael McDowell of being dismissive of the Human Rights Commission, Mr Rabbitte called upon the Government to call off the referendum to allow for consultation.

"High-handed intellectual bullying is not a sufficient response to the concerns raised by the Human Rights Commission," he said.

Mr Rabbitte again accused the Government of running the referendum for narrow political gain.

"The Taoiseach knows how potent a force this is in communities where, for example, the queues for housing are lengthening every day.

The Taoiseach understands that. I am not saying that the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform know or understands that the barristers and friends of the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform are not on the housing list," Mr Rabbitte said.