Referendum - No campaign: The Green Party has called on voters who are undecided about the citizenship referendum to vote No on Friday, saying the referendum commission has reported widespread confusion on the issue.
At the launch of the Green Party poster campaign against the referendum yesterday, the party's Dublin MEP, Ms Patricia McKenna, said the referendum should be defeated to allow for a more comprehensive debate on it.
The party's local election candidate in Dublin's south-west inner city Ms Patricia Gardiner said the Greens had continually asked the Government to produce substantive evidence to back up the claim that a large number of pregnant women are arriving in Ireland in the late stages of pregnancy so that their child could get Irish citizenship. "The primary cause of pressure on maternity hospitals is under funding", rather than non-nationals giving birth, she said.
The party's justice spokesman, Mr Ciarán Cuffe, said he believed the proposed three-year residency rule to be imposed on those seeking citizenship for their children born in Ireland would be very difficult to operate. "This layer of bureaucracy could have been avoided by opting for birthright citizenship. We believe that birthright citizenship is a fairer option", he said.
The Green Party chairman, Mr John Gormley, called on voters thinking of supporting Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Labour candidates in Dublin to vote instead for Ms Patricia McKenna, on the grounds that she was in a straight fight with Sinn Féin for the final European parliament seat.
He maintained that the opinion polls showed "that Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Labour Party will get a seat each, and the last seat is up for grabs. It's going to be extremely tight and I'm calling on soft voters for those parties to come on board with us."