Dana offers to renounce US citizenship in latest Presidential row

All kinds of everything in bizarre passport story

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Dana Rosemary Scanlon

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Dana has offered to renounce her American citizenship in a bid to save her Presidential election campaign – and claimed evidence given to an American court under oath was untruthful.

She has also told Irish national radio that the publicity surrounding her nationality could help the plight of the undocumented in America.

The Eurovision song contest winner – officially contesting this month’s election as Dana Rosemary Scallon – has been caught up in a row over her US passport for a week now.

Newspaper reports quoted claims made by her sister Diana Stein in a 2008 Iowa Court Case that Dana hid her American citizenship from the Irish electorate when she ran for President in the 1997 election.

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The evidence, given under oath during a family feud over recording rights, was repeated by Stein in a series of media interviews last week.

On Sunday however, Dana’s sister changed her story and stated publicly that Dana may only have been ‘applying’ for US citizenship when she ran in the 1997 election.

The singer then verified that remark when she admitted that she had taken up her US passport in 1999 and was now prepared to renounce it.

“I would have no problem giving up my US citizenship if that was the wish of the Irish people,” said Independent candidate Dana, currently last and way off the pace in the opinion polls.

“Taking up the dual citizenship has in no way impacted on my commitment to Ireland.

“The issue allows me to highlight the plight of undocumented Irish living in the shadows of American society.”

Confirming that she had pledged the oath that requires naturalized US citizens to renounce their allegiance to all other states, Dana said she was assured by US officials that she would not have to give up her Irish citizenship.

In the latest twist to the saga, Susan Stein has backed down on her Iowa court claims that Dana was already an American citizen in 1997 when she lost the Irish presidential election to Mary McAleese.

Stein has now admitted that Dana may only have been in the process of applying for citizenship at the time of the election while Dana has claimed the evidence presented in the 2008 Iowa court case was incorrect.

“What was said under oath in that trial was not correct. In fact, it took a little bit of time to copy the document, I’m not allowed to copy the document but I did copy a relevant part of it,” Dana told Irish radio yesterday.

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