Referendum: The Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice has recommended that people vote 'No' in the citizenship referendum on Friday.
In a statement yesterday they expressed "serious reservations about the appropriateness and proportionality" of the referendum as a response to concerns about Irish children of non-Irish nationals and questioned whether "the fundamental change being proposed to the Constitution will create a significant barrier to developing an open, inclusive society that values the presence and contribution of immigrants and fully recognises their rights".
Last Friday the standing committee of the Irish Bishops' Conference made no recommendation as to how people might vote in the referendum, while recognising the subject was "one with serious moral and social, as well as legal, implications".
The Jesuit statement, which was also endorsed by Jesuit Refugee Services (Ireland), said "the failure of the Government to develop an overall immigration policy - despite promises to do so - robs us of a policy context within which there can be a full debate about the citizenship of children born to non-nationals".
It continued that the Jesuit Faith and Justice Centre was "concerned that the current approach to immigration is in danger of treating people as economic units, to be given minimal rights and protections, and dispensed with when the economic need is no longer pressing".
They pointed out that "Ireland's growing immigrant population is partly attributable to the Government's own policy of actively recruiting migrant workers. It is natural that people who have been invited to work in Ireland, thereby contributing to our economy, will have their children here."
Mr Eugene Quinn, director of the centre, said the speed with which the referendum was being held resulted in the bypassing of processes that allowed for consultation and analysis of issues prior to Constitutional change, such as examination by the All-Party Oireachtas Committee on the Constitution and the publication of a Green Paper.
"This is not acceptable, given the importance of the issues involved," he said.