Sir, – I see that President Donald Trump, true to form, has announced that he intends ending the time-honoured law that confers American citizenship on all children born in the United States (“Trump states intention to revoke child citizenship rights”, Suzanne Lynch, World News, October 31st).
We pride ourselves in Ireland on somehow being above such inhumane and callous measures but, alas, we are not.
How sad that our own so-called Republic got around to such Trumpian exclusions some time ago.
The Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Act 2004 amended the Constitution of Ireland to provide that children born on the island of Ireland to parents who were both foreign nationals would no longer have a constitutional right to Irish citizenship.
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This despicable measure has led to a situation whereby children born in Dublin, Cork or Limerick to, say, Chinese parents are subject to deportation to a country in which they have never lived.
We are in no position to adopt moral postures on President Trump’s disgusting policies while this disgraceful measure remains part of our basic law.
It should be repealed at the soonest opportunity. – Yours, etc,
JOSEPH O’CONNOR,
McCourt Professor of
Creative Writing,
University of Limerick.