Chinese ruling 'justifies decision' on poll
Wednesday May 19 2004
A EUROPEAN Court ruling on citizenship was seized upon by the Government last night to advance the case for the forthcoming referendum.
It said a Chinese woman had a right to live in Britain because her baby daughter was an Irish citizen.
Man Levette Chen, who lives in Wales and wants to stay there, went to Belfast for the baby's birth with the deliberate intention of gaining the child Irish citizenship and therefore residency rights in all EU countries.
Irish courts have already ruled that citizenship for a child does not entitle parents to residency rights.
But yesterday the Advocate-General of the European Court of Justice said Man Levette Chen should be allowed remain in Britain, on the basis of her Irish-born child.
The Advocate-General's opinion is normally a clear guide to the court's intentions. His preliminary ruling will be followed by a full court decision later this year.
The judge said an earlier decision by the British Home Office to refuse Ms Chen's application for residency rights breached EU discrimination laws.
Ministers said the ruling proved they were right to proceed with the referendum which would remove a right of citizenship now accorded to anyone born anywhere in Ireland.
Man Levette Chen fled China because of that country's one child per family rule and moved to Britain.
She was advised by lawyers that if she had her second baby in Northern Ireland, she could claim Irish citizenship.
The baby, Kunqian Catherine Zhu, born in Belfast in September 2000, has Irish citizenship, in line with the rights for anyone born in Northern Ireland and copperfastened through the Good Friday Agreement.
Social Welfare Minister Mary Coughlan said the "practical effect" of the decision was "to give a clear indication to people who may wish to circumvent the immigration controls of other EU members states that Ireland's citizenship laws are a back door to Europe".
But that reading of the case has been rejected by human rights lobby groups, including a member of the Human Rights Commission, set up under the Good Friday Agreement.
- Grainne Cunninghamand Tom Brady
