Morrison attacks citizenship referendum

To vote 'yes' in the citizenship referendum would be to call for a "180 degree turn in Irish tradition and Irish law" according to former US Congressman Bruce Morrison

Speaking alongside the Immigration Council of Ireland (ICI) this morning,  Mr Morrison said that the model of "all the great immigrant societies" is based on the granting of citizenship to a person born in that society.

Mr Morrison, a co-author of the Belfast Agreement, also points to the fact that if the referendum is passed it will hand over the question of Irish citizenship for people in Northern Ireland to Westminster.

"Under the Agreement, as it stands at the moment, every child born in Northern Ireland has a right to become an Irish citizen," explained Mr Morrison.

However, on foot of the recent Joint Declaration between the British and Irish Governments the children born in Northern Ireland will have the right to Irish citizenship if one or both of their parents have been granted an indefinite right to remain in Northern Ireland.

"This right to remain in Ireland will be determined by Westminster, so, in effect, Ireland, an independent sovereign country, is handing over to a foreign parliament the right to determine who can or cannot become an Irish citizen," said Mr Morrison.  "This is profoundly shocking to me".

Speaking for the ICI, the council's chairwoman, Sister Stanislaus Kennedy, agreed with Mr Morrison that should the referendum be passed, Irish immigration policy will be back where it was 20 years ago, when children born out of wedlock were treated as second class citizens.

"Rightly it was decided that this was not fair to the children whose legal status was diminished through no acts of their own and the status of 'illegitimacy' was abolished," she said.

"The Government's current proposal to change the citizenship laws is, in effect, a re-visitng to those dark days, except that the children born to non-nationals won't even be second class citizens - they won't be citizens at all".

In contrast to the opinion of their guest speaker, the ICI is of the belief that the parents of a child should be given citizenship as well. Mr Morrison believes that the parents are not entitled to that right unless circumstances of their own make them eligible, as is the case in the US.

Where the two do agree however, is that the rushing through of this amendment to the constitution is merely a quick fix that shows the Government is seeking to distance itself from addressing the real issue. Both argue that what is needed is well defined guidelines, that enable immigrants to know where they stand, and administrative bodies to cope with individual cases as they arise.

The ICI also expressed concern on the rushing through of the referendum, citing e-voting and the Nice Referendum as similar instances which have ended badly. "Constitution is the fundamental law of the state and it should not be changed without full debate and consideration," said Sr Stan.  "That has not been done in this case.  In reality people are being asked to vote on this amendment without having full information - in this context, the only sensible thing to do is to preserve the status quo by voting no".