Civil rights group urge No vote in referendum

VOTERS should think of the Filipino nurses and the Indian doctors who care for them in hospital before they consider stripping migrants of their rights, a lobby group said yesterday.

Furthermore, voters should think of anyone they know who migrated to the United States and benefited from its citizenship laws, the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) said.

Launching their No campaign ahead of the forthcoming citizenship referendum, the ICCL said that, if the referendum were passed, it would create an underclass of Irish-born children whose parents were non-nationals.

“The proposed referendum will not modify Irish citizenship laws, it will completely eliminate the basis as has existed since the foundation of the State, in favour of a strict bloodline criteria,” said ICCL director Aisling Reidy.

“It creates two types of Irish nationals, those who are citizens by virtue of their parents’ status and those who are not.”

She said that the proposal will affect the children of non-nationals living in Ireland “including all those who live here and work here contributing to Irish society”.

Ms Reidy referred to non-nationals who run much of the health service and provide care to Irish people.

She also pointed out that hundreds of thousands of Irish people have benefited from the citizenship laws of the United States, where children born in the country automatically become citizens.

She said Ireland and the US were among 45 countries who have this same citizenship law.

Ms Reidy said Ireland’s law had existed since the foundation of the state in 1921 and was enshrined in the Constitution in 1998 following the Good Friday Agreement.

This agreement was backed by 94% of the population in the South.

Ms Reidy quoted what Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said on May 21, 1998: “I can assure you that in the event of the new Articles 2 and 3 taking effect, no legislation will be proposed by this government to the Oireachtas which imposes restrictions on the entitlement to Irish nationality and citizenship of persons born in Ireland.” Now the Government was rushing through a referendum to do exactly that, she said.

“The Government has violated every recommendation regarding the proper process for a fundamental constitutional referendum, made by the All Party Oireachtas Committee on the Constitution.”

Solicitor Michael Finucane said that the government was jeopardising the peace process by unilaterally changing the Good Friday Agreement. He said the Government’s reasons for the referendum seemed to come down to race.

Dr Ronit Lentin of Trinity College Dublin said that the Nazis deprived certain groups of citizenship before deporting them and slaughtering them.

“When governments are given the freedom to legislate on citizenship, you are walking down a very dangerous path.”