The constitutional amendment on citizenship is needed to prevent people giving birth in Ireland as a means of obtaining an entitlement to work, the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell said today.
It is "inevitable" that sometime in the future a court will rule that parents are entitled to have an opportunity to support their children, the Minister said. If a child is entitled to citizenship through their birth in Ireland, then their parents would be entitled to a work permit as a consequence, he continued.
In a preliminary ruling last month, the European Court of Justice found that a Chinese child, Catherine Zhu Chen, born in Belfast had the right to stay in Wales because she had an Irish passport and her mother could support her. Mr McDowell said the scope of this ruling could be extended some time in the futures.
Mr McDowell said: "If you're saying to the illegal migrant somewhere in Europe that they are entitled to be in Europe so long as they can support their child but that they're not entitled if they [cannot], it's only a matter of time before one of them points out that the right of the child to be supported is effectively being subverted by the absence of a work permit."
Mr McDowell also said that if Ireland's citizenship laws are left unchanged, grandchildren of someone born in Ireland who has spent as little as 48 hours in the State would also be entitled citizenship.
Mr McDowell was speaking at the launch of the Progressive Democrats campaign for Yes vote, where party leader, the Tánaiste, Ms Harney, said the referendum should be passed to allow the Oireachtas to decide on citizenship laws.
"Effectively we are proposing the same scope that the Oireachtas had before 1998 when the we changed our Constitution in approving the Good Friday Agreement," Ms Harney said.
"We are open to detailed and considered debate with political parties, Oireachtas members and the public about the legislation we propose to bring forward if the referendum is carried," she added.
She also said that Ireland's human rights commitment would remain through policy such as a high level of overseas aid.