Rymus {dot} Net » Citizenship

Coloured from birth

Ryan — Thu, 17 Jun 2004 22:36:10 +0000

Well done, Ireland. We should be very proud of ourselves for voting to change the Constitution.

Won�t it be great to live in this Ireland of the future? No waiting for operations, no shortage of hospital beds, with maternity wards full of real Irishwomen and all because we now deny newborn babies the right to be Irish from birth.

Dress it up whatever way you like with talk of loopholes, all we have actually done is to deny newborns the best start in this world because they are black. If that is not racist, then I don�t know what is.

Tom Morrissey,
Portlaw,
Co Waterford.

Ireland offers the best start in the world? My God Tom, if you think Ireland is the best place in the world to be a citizen of, you really need to travel a bit and see what’s beyond the Waterford border.

What we really voted for in this referendum

Ryan — Mon, 14 Jun 2004 12:20:14 +0000

An interesting read from today’s Irish Examiner opinion section

BY voting for the anomalous citizenship loophole to be closed, the electorate has escaped the tyranny of political correctness and the disingenuous fog that the no side of the citizenship referendum introduced into the debate.

The following were among the most spectacular canards introduced by the no side in the lead-up to the vote.

1. That we are removing this tiny loophole while hundreds of thousands of third-generation �white� American grandchildren are allowed unfettered access to Irish passports by means of the grandparent rule.

In reality, this rule will remain, thereby enabling Irish-born children of Filipino nurses, and babies born to asylum seekers genuinely fleeing persecution and who have resided on this island for three short years, to have citizenship conferred on their children and grandchildren even though they might subsequently have no connection to Ireland in the future.

2. That the preliminary ruling of the European Court in the Chen case, and the condition therein that such families should be self-supporting should they wish to reside in an EU country, unambiguously absolves EU states of providing financial aid to such immigrant families.

In reality, this �self-supporting� condition might well be removed when the European Court most probably ratifies that earlier preliminary ruling.

3. That a yes vote will preclude any future debate on the intricacies of citizenship law and that the amendment was initially proposed without any consultation.

In reality, the amendment, as carried, is actually the precursor to the commencement of wide-ranging cross-party dialogue within which non-governmental organisations will be enabled to have their concerns regarding citizenship and immigration fully fleshed out, after which legislation on citizenship will be enacted.

Eoin McMahon,
Northumberland Road,
Dublin 4

The overwhelming “Yes”

Ryan — Sun, 13 Jun 2004 11:27:19 +0000

Irish voters have voted an overwhelming yes to the citizenship referendum. 79% were in favour of the change.

Fianna Fail & the PD’s jumped on it straight away with an “I told you so”, claiming the result vindicated their decision to call for the change. Read the full story.

So it went the way I would have voted anyway, that gives me some form of relief.

Racist? Me?

Ryan — Tue, 08 Jun 2004 22:03:29 +0000

Bertie “I’m not racist” Ahern is at it again. A classic case of spindoctery (is that even a word?) or a few words of truth from an otherwise practiced crap spout?

greens for a no vote

Ryan — Mon, 07 Jun 2004 18:18:51 +0000

Patricia McKenna, Green party MEP has called for all the undecided to vote no in the upcoming referendum. Speaking at a press conference, she said

the proposed amendment to the Constitution was unclear and unnecessary.

Unclear? How so? At this stage if people don’t know what they are voting for, they shouldn’t be voting.

Unnecessary? I don’t think so. Maybe it’s not at the top of the urgency pile right now, but what about in 10, 25 or even 50 years? What will the citizenship tourism state of Ireland’s EU backdoor status be like then?

If I remember correctly, opinion poll’s show 54% are in support of the referendum to be taken this Friday, with something like 17% undecided.
(Source: RTE News)

Bertie for a yes vote

Ryan — Fri, 04 Jun 2004 10:20:53 +0000

Micheal Martin is behind it, so there’s no reason why the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, wouldn’t be. In fact he’s gone so far as to say;

anything other than a ‘yes’ vote in next Friday’s referendum will allow Irish citizenship laws to remain open to abuse

Not wanting to tar everyone with the same brush however, he stresses that it is certain groups of non-nationals and not 100%. The problem as I see it currently is, Bertie is famous for churning out incredible nonsense at the best of times, so how is anyone going to take this seriously? If only the women’s groups weren’t against you Mr. Ahern, you might have a chance then.