The Government is to hold a constitutional referendum on the right to Irish citizenship for all children born on the island of Ireland, it was confirmed this evening.
The move is aimed at denying the automatic right to citizenship to children born to non-national parents.
Since the ratification of the Belfast Agreement anyone born on the island of Ireland is entitled to citizenship however the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, said this evening he believed this was being exploited by people determined to exploit the asylum application process.
Mr McDowell briefed the opposition today and said he hoped to get all-party support for the initiative.
"What I have started today on behalf of the government is an all-party consultative process with a view to examining proposals for having a referendum to limit the right to Irish citizenship of children born on the island of Ireland where neither of their parents were at the time of their birth either Irish citizens or entitled to Irish citizenship," he said.
"What the government is proposing to do is to explore the possibility of altering the constitution and at the same time informing the people of what it proposes to do by way of ordinary legislation to provide a period of time for which people must be legally resident in Ireland before citizenship can be given to their children."
Mr McDowell claimed there was significant evidence that people were coming to Ireland to have children outside of the asylum process.
He said the government had yet to decide on a date for the proposed referendum, although he confirmed that June 11th - the day of the local and European elections - remained an option.
"It could well be done for the European and local elections in June, that decision hasn't yet been made," he said. "As long as the legislation is passed by the Oireachtas on, or before, May 12th, a referendum could legally be held on June 11th."
Last year the Supreme Court ruled that non-national parents of an Irish-born child could not, as a matter of course, claim the right to live in Ireland.
However the judgment has not had the effect of stopping non-national women from presenting late in their pregnancies to give birth at Irish maternity hospitals.
The Government is understood to have received legal advice favouring a referendum to remove the automatic right to Irish citizenship from the Constitution.
It is believed that this would remove an incentive to give birth in Ireland.