Flaws in the argument of no vote leader
This statement is ambiguous and misleading. The Supreme Court case in question is L and O v Minister for Justice. The case changed the previous position, whereby an automatic entitlement to residency was a constitutional imperative.
It decides that, as Irish citizens, no child born to non-national parents in Ireland, can be deported, and that such a child citizen has rights of residency, that Irish child citizens have the constitutionally-protected right to the company of their parents and therefore that there is a prima facie case flowing from this for the family to reside in the State with their child; that, however, such a child's family rights are not absolute.
This latter finding allows for the possibility of deporting non-national parents of Irish children in certain circumstances. Each case must be weighed on its merits and the Minister is required to have "grave and substantial reasons" before he can act.
Mr Higgins' statement is inaccurate and apt to mislead. Minister McDowell has pointed out numerous factual errors by Mr Higgins on the citizenship question but gives him the benefit of the doubt concluding that Mr Higgins did not intend to mislead and is merely in ignorance of the facts.
Karole Michael Cuddihy,
Carrigcourt,
Carrigaline,
Co Cork.
