No changes are planned in citizenship laws which give automatic citizenship rights to the children of refugees and asylum-seekers born in the State.
The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, said that "we have no proposals to amend legislation in this regard. "Many of those working in the maternity hospitals have highlighted the enormous growth in the number of pregnant women who come to the hospitals within a few days of arriving here, and those people are quite clear on their entitlements and what it means if their babies are born in Ireland."
He was responding to the Fine Gael leader, Mr Michael Noonan, who had asked about reports that the Government intended to change the constitutional position on citizenship.
The issue arose after the Labour leader, Mr Ruair∅ Quinn, claimed the Taoiseach had misled the Dβil a fortnight ago about the accommodation standards some asylum-seekers endured in the State.
Mr Quinn referred to a coroner's court hearing in Cork on Tuesday about the death of an infant in March after being scalded with boiling water at a hotel for asylum-seekers. The seven-month-old child's parents "blamed the country's authorities" for the death because of cramped conditions. There was no table for the kettle, which was on the floor when the child was scalded.
"Somebody in Government services withheld the information (about the child's death) from the Taoiseach," he said and allowed the Taoiseach to mislead the Dβil about standards in at least one tragic situation.
Calling for an inquiry into why he was misled, he also demanded that the Taoiseach apologise for his criticisms of a report which claimed seriously sub-standard conditions applied.
Mr Ahern said such tragic accidents happened regardless of the size of somebody's home. "It is not fair to abuse the members of the staff." It was a tragedy for the family and for every member of the Dβil. He contended that the Government, agencies and organisations made the greatest efforts to help asylum-seekers, and the Department of Justice made enormous efforts to convince people to allow asylum-seekers into their communities.
