7th June 2004

PRESS RELEASE

Green Party urges Undecided to Vote No in Citizenship Referendum

The Green Party is urging all those who are undecided on the Citizenship Referendum to vote No this Friday.  The party was launching its poster campaign for the last week of the campaign.

Green MEP, Patricia McKenna MEP said today,  “Our posters carry the message ‘Unfair, unwise, unnecessary - undecided?  Vote No’.   If the referendum is passed, it will affect some of the most vulnerable in Ireland, Irish citizen children. Before voting I urge voters to ask themselves: has the government given clear evidence that the existing system is being misused? Is the newly appointed Ombudsman for Children supporting the Referendum?   Does the Government have an Immigration policy in place? If the answer to these questions is no then I urge you to vote No on Friday 11th June.

The Green Party has always claimed that this referendum is being rushed through without adequate debate.

“Changing our Constitution should not be undertaken lightly. As recently as March of this year the Taoiseach stated that there were no plans to hold a referendum on this issue."

"We stated at the outset of this campaign that the matter of citizenship should have been referred to the All-Party Committee on the Constitution for adequate debate and consultation. This is still our view.”

Patricia Gardiner (Local Election candidate Dublin’s South-west inner city) said that the Green Party had continually requested the Government to produce substantive evidence to back up their claims that a large number of women are arriving in the country, in late stages of pregnancy, simply for their children to obtain citizenship.

She said that women and children are being blamed for the Government’s failure to resource maternity services with little time for discussion or debate.   “The primary cause of pressure on maternity services is under-funding.”

“Cutbacks were introduced in the 1980s when birth rates dropped in Ireland. However in the mid nineties the birth rates increased but the cutbacks were never reversed.  And of course the proposed changes to the constitution will not add one euro to improving maternity services.”

David Healy (Fingal-Howth)  said that  “In this, our final press conference on the Citizenship Referendum, the Green Party is re-iterating its ‘Ten Reasons to Vote No’ on June 11th and cites an impressive list of organisations sharing its concerns. The groups range from human rights and civil liberties organisations; refugee support groups; children’s rights organisations; lawyers and doctors, organisations; women’s groups; religious organisations; trade unions and political parties, including pro-Agreement parties in Northern Ireland.

The Government’s own Ombudsman for Children has now expressed grave concerns about the impact of the referendum on the welfare and rights of children, and the Referendum Commission, ten days before polling day, has reported widespread confusion, stating that only 60% of the voters know the referendum has anything to do with citizenship.”

Ciarán Cuffe TD, Justice Spokesperson stated, “We believe that the three-year residency rule will prove to be extremely difficult to operate in practice. This layer of bureaucracy could have been avoided by opting for birthright citizenship. We believe that birthright citizenship is fairer option.”

“If significant numbers are Citizen Tourists as Michael McDowell claims then all we have to do is either enforce the existing rules concerning travel in late pregnancy or utilise Article 9 of the constitution. Article 9 allows the Oireachtas to determine on acquisition and loss of Irish nationality and citizenship.”