US consultants employed by Fianna Fáil identified immigration as the main political issue in the State, 17 points ahead of health, the Labour leader, Mr Pat Rabbitte, claimed in the Dáil.
Mr Rabbitte questioned why the Taoiseach told the House in February that there would be no referendum this year, yet two weeks later the Minister for Justice announced there would be a referendum and that it would be likely held on the day of the local and European elections.
Mr Rabbitte warned the Tánaiste that any "collusion" by the Progressive Democrats in allowing the referendum to be held in the context of elections would be "unworthy" of her party.
But Ms Harney insisted that nobody had been more liberal or open on immigration issues than she was, but the "fact remains that the law in this country is being abused and it cannot be acceptable that people can fly in here from anywhere in the world for the purposes of giving birth", and she said that non-national births accounted for 22 per cent of all births in the Dublin maternity hospitals.
She also insisted that no date had been set for the referendum but it could be held on the date of the local elections, the presidential election in November if there is one, or on a separate date altogether.
Mr Rabbitte questioned the "urgency" to hold the referendum and asked if she agreed with PD Senator Tom Morrissey who said a decision had already been taken to hold the referendum on June 11th. Ms Harney said a date had not been decided but "many would take the view that if we're having an election in any event, it makes more sense to have it on that occasion than have it in November if there is a presidential election or maybe a separate date altogether".
She stepped back from the claim by the Minister for Justice that the Masters of the Dublin Maternity hospitals "pleaded with him" to change the law.
She was not at that meeting with the Masters and "I doubt very much if the Masters would have come looking for changes in the legislation".
However, she added that in her own private discussions there was "enormous concern about what's happening" and one senior consultant said to her some time ago that "if the trend continues we'll need another hospital facility in the greater Dublin area".
There was persistent Opposition heckling and jeers when she said she hoped the "race card" would not be used in the lead-up to the referendum.
The Opposition accused the Government of ensuring it would be racist by having the referendum on the same day as the elections.
The Minister for Justice had claimed that a meeting with the Dublin Hospital Masters was brought about at their request, but Mr Rabbitte said it was the Minister's officials who invited them to a meeting in October 2002.
She insisted that the referendum would be totally compatible with the Belfast Agreement referendum result.
