The Government has resorted to scaremongering in its campaign for a Yes vote in the citizenship referendum, Sinn Féin said today.
Ms Mary Lou McDonald, the party's European Parliament candidate in Dublin, said the Government had "vastly underrated" the public's ability to be "rational and thoughtful".
The referendum on June 11th would change to Constitution to deny children born in Ireland to non-national parents the right to Irish citizenship.
"People are concerned that this debate is being rushed. They are deeply concerned about the notion of stopping children born in this country having the right to citizenship. They cannot see why the debate cannot be conducted in a calm and neutral environment instead of in the heat of an election campaign."
Sinn Féin national chairman Mr Mitchell McLaughlin also rebuked the Government for bringing forward the proposal to deny citizenship, claiming it would undermine the Belfast Agreement, which guarantees the right of anyone born on the island of Ireland to qualify as Irish citizens.
At the launch of his party's campaign for a No vote in the referendum, the Foyle Assembly member said the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, had given unionists in Northern Ireland ammunition to argue that the Agreement could be radically altered.
Campaigners for a No vote have been buoyed by an opinion poll today which suggested the result could be tight.
According to the survey carried out for the Irish Examinerand RTÉ, 44 per cent of people polled in Munster supported the Government's proposal, but 41 per cent were against it. Crucially, 15 per cent of those surveyed remained undecided.