The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, has claimed that groups opposed to the forthcoming referendum on citizenship have run a campaign "full of deliberate distortions".
Minister for Foreign Affairs Brian Cowen at a news conference Thursday June 3, 2004, in Dublin, outlining the case in favour of the Citizenship Referendum. PA Photo: Gareth Fuller
Speaking in Dublin today to publicise Fianna Fáil's support of the referendum, Mr Cowen accused those opposed to the citizenship referendum of being "not very mature'" and claimed Sinn Féin and the Labour Party in particular had "sought to out do each other in invective".
Mr Cowen said the proposed amendment to the Constitution would bring Ireland closer in line to its European partners.
Calling the proposal "modest and sensible", Mr Cowen said it would restore powers to the Oireachtas allowing it to legislate to prevent what he termed "abuses of Irish citizenship".
The Minister said he believed citizenship should be "more than an accident of birth" and claimed that by preventing what he termed the "abuse of the system", a Yes vote would enable "genuine migrants to realise their dream, free of unfair aspersions as to their motives".
Mr Cowen attacked recent comments by Sinn Féin's Aonghus Ó Snodaigh and Prionsias De Rossa of the Labour Party. Mr Cowen said charges of racism were not only unfortunate, but were also "a cynical and potentially incendiary play on sentiment".