21 May 2004

PRESS RELEASE

10 good reasons to Vote No in Citizenship Referendum on June 11

The Green Party has launched its campaign to oppose the citizenship referendum on UN day for Cultural Diversity

The Green Party today launched its campaign for a No vote in the citizenship referendum by giving ten good reasons why people should vote no on June 11.   A No vote tells the Government that it is unacceptable to play the race card for electoral gains, unacceptable to breach agreed guidelines for holding referendums, unacceptable to present anecdotal evidence as fact the way Minister McDowell has done.  A No vote is a vote to protect the Good Friday agreement and a no vote recognises the positive contribution that immigrants make to Irish society.

The Green Party believes that the government’s inexplicable haste is playing into the hands of those who are trying to heighten tension and play the race card before the European and local elections. This is an example of the FF/PD government debasing politics at the expense of some of the most vulnerable people in our society.

Patricia McKenna MEP and European candidate for Dublin said that

the Irish Government’s proposed amendment undermines the Good Friday Agreement and the Treaty by providing the British Government with clear legal grounds for deviating from both.”

“At a time of crisis in the ‘peace process’ and challenges to the integrity of the Good Friday Agreement by the Democratic Unionist Party and others, the Government is sending a dangerous signal by unilaterally altering the Agreement without consultation or agreement with the parties who negotiated it in 1998.”

“The Chen case provides further reason for considered and informed public debate. Instead, the Minister has used the case to defend his hasty decision to hold the Referendum on the date of the elections. It is clear that the Referendum should not take place until the European Court of Justice has made a final ruling and all the implications have been fully explored.”

“Instead, the Government parties will now exploit the new uncertainties and contested interpretations by further politicizing profound questions of citizenship and the integrity of our Constitution.”

Patricia McKenna's Supreme Court case and 'McKenna judgment' led to the setting up of the Referendum Commission. Ms McKenna criticized changes to the referendum commission that mean it no longer has a role in outlining the arguments for and against referendum proposals.  "These changes were railroaded through the Dáil in one day, just before the Christmas holidays in 2001. The Green Party, Fine Gael and Labour opposed the move but this huge change went virtually unnoticed because people's attention was elsewhere. It seems the concept of giving people both sides of the argument so they can make up their own minds, was something the majority parties just couldn't tolerate.”

"The role of the referendum commission is crucial particularly on this occasion as political parties have committed their resources to fighting election campaigns. They have little time or resources left to ensure that the public gets the full and informed debate this issue deserves.”

Cllr. Mary White, Green Party Deputy Leader and European candidate for the East said,  “We are convinced that the Government’s decision to run the Referendum in parallel with the election is a cynical attempt to politicize a sensitive debate about immigration, citizenship and the Constitution. It has become clear that if there are such cases they are likely to be a tiny number.”

“Already, the National Consultative Committee on Racism and Interculturalism has reported a rise in racist incidents, including verbal assaults on young pregnant women.”

“The Government’s ‘justifications’ for the Referendum have been weak and misleading. The statistics offered by Minister McDowell did not bear out his claims about wholesale ‘citizenship tourism’. He has been forced to concede that he has relied on anecdotal evidence to support his assertions about pregnant women coming here to abuse our citizenship laws. It has become clear that if there are such cases they are likely to be a tiny number.”

Green Party Justice spokesperson Ciarán Cuffe TD said today that,

“The Referendum is in breach of agreed guidelines. The All-Party Committee on the Constitution set out clear and agreed procedures for the holding of referendums. These procedures have not been complied with in order to meet the Government’s rush to meddle with the Constitution on 11 June.”

“There has been no Green Paper on citizenship; no consultation with Opposition parties; nor with the All-Party Oireachtas Committee on the Constitution; nor the Human Rights Commissions, North or South.”

“The Government’s rush to amend the Constitution stands in stark contrast with its prevarication on the pressing issue of reforming our immigration policy. The Referendum is taking place in the complete absence of fair and comprehensive immigration policy. The Government’s tardiness in producing the necessary and long sought after immigration legislation exposes its claims about the urgency of the referendum as baseless.”

“Immigrants make a positive contribution to Ireland. One of the immigrants who made an outstanding contribution to Ireland was a founding father of the State, Eamon DeValera. We find it deeply ironic to find a coalition Government led by the so-called Republican Party (Fianna Fáil) rushing to amend De Valera’s Constitution in order to remove an "anomaly" and cure an "unintended" citizenship advantage conferred purely by an accident of birth.”

Local election candidate Sinead Ni Bhroin (Ballyfermot) said today that, “The Referendum is being used by the Government to conceal the true origins of the problems in our maternity wards and to pretend that they are addressing the issue, while allocating insufficient resources to resolve the underlying problem.”

“Contrary to the impression created by the Government, the pressures put on our maternity hospital resources do not come from births to non-nationals. The real underlying issues are the cutbacks in the 1980s in maternity beds. Irish birth rates peaked in 1980, when there were 74,064 births. However, by 1990, that number had dropped to 53,044 due to very high levels of emigration.”

“As with all migration, most of those who left Irish shores were of childbearing age. The maternity facilities available now in Ireland more accurately reflect those needed during the abnormally low phase in the beginning of the 1990s rather than the present number of births.”

“The proposed changes will create second-class citizenship for Irish children. If the Amendment to the Constitution is passed and implementing legislation enacted, children born in Ireland will no longer be equal at birth.”

“According to the Irish Council of Civil Liberties (IOCCL), the amendment will undermine and corrupt the principle of equality in the Constitution, and violate the commitment to “cherish all the children of the Nation” equally. It will create a category of children, who because of who their parents are, have less protection under the Constitution than other children, even though they have a birthright to be part of the Nation.”  

THE GREEN PARTY GIVES TEN REASONS TO VOTE ‘NO’ ON JUNE 11