Sir, - P. Leonard's question (August 14) as to why all children born in Ireland have the right to Irish citizenship is easily answered. Article 2 of the Constitution states: "It is the entitlement and birthright of every person born in the island of Ireland, which includes its islands and seas, to be part of the Irish nation..." This basic position is also enshrined in the Irish Nationality and Citizenship acts of 1956 and 1986, and the right of the parents of an Irish-born child to residency in the State was confirmed in the High Court case Fajojuno v. Minister for Justice (1987).
In 1998 the right to Irish citizenship of every person born in Ireland was included in the Belfast Agreement and voted on in a referendum. In addition, that same year the Attorney General's office advised that the ruling in the Fajojuno case was legally binding, with reference to both the Constitution and the Belfast Agreement.
Current figures show that approximately 45,000 people immigrated into Ireland in the first six months of this year. Of these, just over half (23,000) were EU nationals, who have automatic residency rights in any case, equivalent to those of an Irish citizen, provided they are not long-term unemployed. Some 17,000 people arrived from non-EEA (European Economic Area) countries with either work permits or work visas.
These people have no right to free medical care, local authority housing or social welfare payments.
Their permission to remain in the country is tied to their jobs - if they lose their jobs, they lose their right to remain. Rights of family reunification are non-existent in the case of permit-holders and limited for visa holders. It is unlikely, therefore, that large numbers of people in these groups are claiming residency on the basis of parentage of an Irish-born child.
In the same six months, approximately 5,000 asylum-seekers have arrived, about 11 per cent of the total. This is roughly similar to numbers last year, so we can assume that the birth rates too will be somewhat similar.
In the year 2000, a total of 909 asylum-seekers applied for residency on the basis of the birth of an Irish-born child. This figure includes both fathers and mothers, as well as older siblings. This would probably indicate that some 600 children were born to asylum-seekers last year. Given that the policy of resettling asylum-seekers around the country came into force in December 1999, with Direct Provision in April 2000, many of these births did not take place in Dublin. If the maternity resources of the State are under strain due to roughly 10 to 11 births a week "extra", then there really is a crisis.
I have never seen any statistics for the "many" who "arrive in labour direct from the boat or plane", but logistically it must be very difficult to organise this miracle of timing. If this "extraordinary system" of citizenship for Irish-born children was really so attractive, why are the numbers of asylum-seekers here so low? We get fewer people in a year than the UK gets in a month, not to mention the numbers arriving in Germany. We must also remember that Europe as a whole (not just the EU) hosts just over 2.5 million asylum-seekers and refugees, while Iran alone hosts about 2 million.
The assertion that "they are given accommodation, welfare payments, medical cards, etc., all at State expense" is utter nonsense. Asylum-seekers in Direct Provision receive £15 per week per adult and must live in the hostel accommodation provided and eat the food provided, in effect a half-way house between prison and residential care. Asylum-seekers are not entitled as of right to a Medical Card, but must apply in the same way as an Irish citizen. If an asylum-seeker gives birth, she must apply for residency; it is not granted automatically. This process can take over a year in many cases. In the meantime, the parents can leave the Direct Provision system, and go into private rented accommodation. They are not allowed to work or study, but must apply for social welfare, means-tested as for any Irish citizen. They are not allowed to go on the list for local authority housing until the residency papers have come through.
It is also worth pointing out that all rights of residency end when the Irish-born child is 18, or if that child dies, and any older non-Irish born siblings lose their rights when they reach 18. Should the marriage break up, if one of the parents is no longer "actively parenting" that person loses their rights to remain as well. Residency rights are significantly less than those of citizenship or refugee status.
The small number of asylum-seekers cannot be blamed for the inadequacies of the health services, shortages of local authority housing, poor schools, or other social injustices in this country. - Is mise,
John Mulloy, Knockrooskey, Westport, Co Mayo.