Jason O’Mahony: ‘Remainers seeking consolation prize of an Irish passport should pay a citizenship tax’

Whilst having great sympathy for Remainers in the UK, I have to admit to being irritated by a fair many of them this week. All over Twitter angry British pro-Europeans have vented their frustration with their own country by announcing that they will now seek Irish citizenship. I’m sorry, but I’ve a problem with the use of our most sacred of documents as some sort of two fingers to their own country as opposed to a primary desire to be part of our nation.

Let’s be clear: an Irish passport is not some sort of lucky dip consolation prize to be entered into lightly. This isn’t subscribing to Netflix: this is declaring loyalty to another nation. I’ll admit it’s a bit rich for me to be banging on about this when we don’t even expect our own citizens to show much loyalty to each other. It highlights our own problems and awkwardness about agreeing among ourselves what it means to be a citizen of this republic. It’s hard to point an accusing finger at some for not treating citizenship seriously given that those of us blessed enough to have been born into citizenship don’t do it either.

It’s not something we debate. We’re very comfortable at listing out the freedoms and entitlements of Irish citizenship. That’s easy. But what of duty or obligation? Why do we not debate that?

If you want to start an almighty row online, post a statement that paying taxes passed by our democratically elected parliament is your patriotic duty, and yes, that does include bin charges, the TV licence and water charges. Or tell people that it is your patriotic duty, according to ability, to seek work and contribute to society. Or as Marx (Karl, not Groucho) says «from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs».

And, by the way, that’s according to what you can actually contribute, not what you say you can. Now, I know, what the hell is a nice centrist Blairite like me quoting Marx for? Because when I make the points about a patriotic duty to contribute I tend to get savaged by people from the left denouncing me for being some sort of evil Thatcherite. Because I believe in the patriotic duty to contribute to society.

That’s the debate we should be having.

There are immigrants actually living in this country right now, working hard, paying taxes, contributing to the greater Irish good, who dream of that moment when they hold an Irish passport in their hand. Yet they have lesser call on a passport than someone in the UK who has never set foot here, but thinks they can p**s off Boris Johnson by getting one.

One of the greatest innovations of recent Irish governments has been the formalising of the granting of Irish citizenship into ceremonies. I’ve met people who got their citizenship that way, and it was a moment of pride, a big day that you turn out in your Sunday best for, and I’m proud to share a country with those people. It’s true, there are plenty on the right who will argue that taxation is not the only way to prove one’s patriotism. They’re right. I’m a low tax kind of guy myself. But we need to have an idea of what it means to be a citizen of this republic. I’m old enough to remember when the symbol of the old Department of Social Welfare was literally a hand sticking out asking a proverbial «Where’s mine?» (Admittedly the hand also seemed to be fondling a turkey. It was about freedom or something.) We are more than just a nation of hands-out rent-seekers who take umbrage at being asked to contribute. There’s another reason why we need to debate obligation. How can you have a national debate on immigration if you have no idea what values you expect newcomers to uphold? If you don’t define what it means to be a good Irish citizen then it gets defined for you. Don’t be surprised if people end up thinking that being Irish means being a dodgy huckster looting the public purse or chancing your arm with a brassneck (not literally) and shameless whiplash claim, because they are values we communicate every single day. Do that and the national symbol could well be a dirty elastic-banded fat roll of well-worn €50s being trousered by a hand graced with a glinting Rolex.

Finally, here’s a simple thought. If we’re going to be giving out passports by the box load, let’s have a citizenship tax whilst we’re at it. Something nominal, maybe €150 a year, which you can write off against any taxes you have ever paid here, including a nominal VAT contribution. Prove that you have even visited in the last year and we’ll waive the tax, because at least you’ll have spent a few quid here. But please, none of this Irish Passport In Safe As Flag Of Convenience.

I get it, we could not do that until we finally deal with the issue of diaspora voting but nothing wrong with that.

No reason we could not plough on with Seanad reform, which is going to be postal ballot based anyway, and let diaspora voters paying the citizenship tax get representation for their taxation.

Would it cause war among some of the new passport holders? Very probably, but so what? If your fealty to this republic isn’t worth €150 a year then we’re hardly losing the next Michael Collins, in fairness.