A refugee seeking asylum would have a fairer procedure for having his or her application dealt with than the spouse of an Irish citizen who was refused citizenship by the Minister for Justice, Mr Brendan Ryan (Lab) claimed. He said there was no appeal, no independence and no transparency, during the continuing debate on the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Bill.
Calling for the excision from the Bill of a provision enabling the Minister for Justice to refuse in his absolute discretion the granting of citizenship to a foreign national who married an Irish citizen, Mr Ryan challenged Mr O'Donoghue to say what constraints there were on his absolute discretion.
Mr O'Donoghue said that Government departments were aware of a variety of fraudulent schemes to exploit loopholes in the regulations for the purpose of securing Irish passports. In exercising his discretion, a minister would have to have regard to the rules of natural justice. If that did not prevail, people could have recourse to the courts.
"Senator Ryan is quite correct - even the Pope has accepted he is not infallible and what is good enough for the Pope is good enough for me." He would listen to any sensible formula which the Opposition put forward to deal with what they saw as a problem.
Tributes were paid to the outgoing Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Andrews. The Leas-Cathaoirleach, Mr Liam Cosgrave, (FG) recalled that he had worked closely with Mr Andrews "on the parochial front" for many years in the Dun Laoghaire constituency.
The Leader of the House, Mr Donie Cassidy, said he left a proud record of achievement. Mr Andrews had been a major player in making the breakthrough in the North and he had always been dedicated to supporting human rights. Ms Madeleine Taylor-Quinn (FG) said Mr Andrews had been a wonderful Foreign Minister who had projected a personable face of Ireland.
A novel way of tackling the persistent Shannon flooding problem was suggested by the deputy Government leader in the House, Mr John Dardis (PD).
Making it clear that his suggestion was being put forward seriously, he expressed the view that the Shannon could contribute its water to the greater Dublin area.
One of the major problems at present was the increasing level of abstraction from the river Liffey to supply Dublin's need for water. It would be quite easy to draw water from the Shannon to Dublin, he believed.
Mr Dardis admitted that he was less sure what impact this would have in diminishing the flooding problem, but it would obviously be of some help.
Mr Michael Finneran (FF) said he supported calls for the establishment of a body which would have overall responsibility for the control and co-ordination of activities on the river Shannon.