Referendum: No campaign The citizenship referendum will give encouragement to those who are racist, a doctor and senator said yesterday in Dublin.
Dr Mary Henry, speaking at the inauguration of Doctors for a No Vote, said she did not think the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, or the Government were themselves racist.
"But they would want to be very careful that their actions do not give fuel to racists. The policies he [Mr McDowell] is pursuing will, I believe, give that fuel to racists."
She was joined at yesterday's event by Dublin GPs, Dr Juliet Bressan, Dr Austin O'Carroll and Dr Chris Neilson. In a letter, to be published in the Irish Medical News this week, they join 27 other doctors in calling for a No vote. Among them is Dr Jerry Cowley, Independent TD.
In the letter they say the basis for Irish citizenship should remain as it has done "for the last 83 years".
"We do not accept the notion that our maternity hospitals are being 'clogged up' or that mothers are putting their children at risk with late arrivals.
The number of late arrivals, of whom a significant number are Irish women, is only 548, which is clearly a tiny proportion of all births."
They say the national birth rate has continued to fall since 1981, despite the arrival of new communities. "We argue strongly for improved maternity resources for all women. It is the duty of the Department of Health to provide appropriate models of maternity care for multi-ethnic patients, not to argue for their deportation. We reject the stigmatisation of foreign parents as putting their non-born children's life at risk, without taking account of the perinatal mortality [death in the first week of life] in their own country."
In Nigeria, for example, the perinatal rate is 77.5 per 1,000 births compared with an Irish rate of 7.5 per 1,000, say the doctors.
Dr Bressan said there was great anger within the medical professions at the justification being used for the referendum.
"The vast majority of doctors are advocates for their patients, welcome diversity and believe all children are equal. This can be seen by the desire of doctors to sign up to this letter."
The referendum was an attempt by the Government to deflect attention away from some of the "real" issues creating "real" anger among the electorate.
Dr Carroll said the Government campaign was "inhumane in its effect and there has been a total lack of empathy with the people who will be affected by this measure".
Dr Bressan said the timing of the referendum was clearly chosen by Mr McDowell "to avoid confronting the arguments against it".
When asked how the No campaign was doing, she said it was difficult because the main Opposition parties in the Dáil were "so consumed with the elections", that many groups were campaigning alone and so the campaign could not be as hard-hitting as others in the past had been.
Dr Peadar O'Grady, a consultant child psychiatrist, said the Irish health system was indebted to foreign workers. It was "massively supported by workers from other countries and this referendum is an insult to these colleagues", he said.
