IRISH ARE ‘SECOND CLASS CITIZENS’ IN NEW GFA BREACH

Posted by Jim on April 6, 2019

The British government has provoked anger after it said Irish citizens
born in the north of Ireland cannot vote in a unity border poll or any
other referendum under British law, and cannot have the same rights as
other EU citizens.

Direct Ruler Karen Bradley blankly told the London parliament this week
that Irish citizens living in the North of Ireland could not vote in any
referendum.

Under current British legislation, voting rights of Irish and British
people living in each other’s jurisdiction are reciprocal. Bradley
claimed this only extends to local and parliamentary elections.

Her comments were apparently designed to address continuing confusion
over the rights of EU citizens living in British jurisdiction, but only
served to increase it. They followed a statement from the British
government’s Home Office that Irish citizens born in the Six Counties
will always be considered British, and therefore their rights as EU
citizens would not be recognised.

The combination made for a shocking one-two punch to northern
nationalists and their perceived status under the 1998 Good Friday
Agreement.

Sinn Féin Deputy Leader Michelle O’Neill said: “Once again, the British
Secretary of State has betrayed a staggering ignorance of the Good
Friday Agreement which guarantees the rights of citizens, whether they
identify as Irish, British or both.”

“The agreement clearly recognises ‘that it is for the people of the
island of Ireland alone, by agreement between the two parts respectively
and without external impediment, to exercise their right of
self-determination on the basis of consent, freely and concurrently
given, North and South, to bring about a united Ireland’.

“For Karen Bradley to suggest that Irish citizens would not be entitled
to vote in a unity referendum is patently ridiculous.”

Ms O’Neill pointed out that thousands of Irish citizens voted in the
Brexit referendum in the North, in 2016.

“Is she now saying that they did so illegally?” asked Ms O’Neill. “Her
comments may be laughable but they are also typical of a wider disdain
within her government for the Good Friday Agreement and the protections
contained within it.

“At every stage of the Brexit process, they have sought to undermine the
Good Friday Agreement and have recently declared their intention to
treat everyone in the North as British citizens.

“That is entirely unacceptable. The British Government cannot and will
not be allowed to redefine Irish citizenship or rewrite the Good Friday
Agreement.”

Deputy Director of the Committee on the Administration of Justice Daniel
Holder said: “The lack of any understanding of the GFA among the current
government is getting beyond a joke.”

He said that the changes are not only incompatible with the Good Friday
Agreement, but also Theresa May’s own Withdrawal Agreement with the EU>

This week’s statements have increased concerns that the weakened hull of
the Good Friday Agreement will not withstand the pressures being exerted
by Brexit. The political crisis is exposing the London government’s
failure to take the GFA seriously, a legal expert has said.

Colin Harvey, a Queen’s University Belfast law professor, said that
Irish citizens who are also considered British citizens will not be
entitled to EU “settled status” after Brexit, and therefore could lose
the right to be considered an EU citizen.

“There is little evidence thus far, including in the latest immigration
rules, that the birthright provisions of the Good Friday agreement are
being taken seriously,” said Prof Harvey.

“These latest rules confirm what we already know about the
implementation gap that predates Brexit, but that Brexit is exposing.”

Emma DeSouza, a County Derry woman and Irish citizen fighting a
labyrinthine appeals process for residency for her US-born husband, has
argued that British citizenship is being imposed on the people of the
north of Ireland.

She says they two tiers of Irish citizens are being created, those who
can retain their EU rights and those who cannot. She questioned how
London could justify opening the ‘settled status’ scheme for EU citizens
differentially to Irish people based on their birthplace [south or north
of the border].

“To me, that is the definition of second-class citizenship,” she said.
She found it “extremely distressing” to see that she no longer met the
definition of EU national, which has been used to deny her the right to
live with her husband in the north of Ireland, a matter which is the
subject of an ongoing court battle.

Una Boyd, a lawyer at the Committee on the Administration of Justice who
previously represented Ms DeSouza, said the change in the definition
underpinning eligibility in the EU settlement scheme was “not
surprising” but that it was “disappointing”.

“There was an opportunity here for change to ensure the UK government
fulfil the commitments under the withdrawal agreement and the Good
Friday Agreement,” said Ms Boyd.

In Brussels, Sinn Féin MEP Martina Anderson described it as another
“breach” of the Good Friday Agreement due to Brexit.

Ms O’Neill said the crude attempts by London to undermine or redefine
the rights of Irish citizens were “reckless” would be rigorously
opposed.

“The Good Friday Agreement, and the rights afforded by it, are
international obligations,” said said. “They cannot be ignored or set
aside.

She urged the Dublin government to defend the rights of Irish citizens
as a co-guarantor of the peace deal. “This is not the first time London
has sought to undermine the Good Friday Agreement to suit its own
needs.”