Government must clarify its position on a loophole which allows many Permanent Residency Certificate (PRC) holders to apply for Bermudian status, according to PLP Senator Diallo Rabain.

The Progressive Labour Party tabled legislation aimed at closing the loophole, which emerged in May following a ruling by Chief Justice Ian Kawaley, but the amendments were voted down by the Government which said it had hired a human rights lawyer to examine the issue.

The “appeal window” for the judgement is set to expire this week.

Speaking in the Senate during the Motion to Adjourn, Sen Rabain questioned Government’s seeming reluctance to close the loophole, saying the OBA’s stance on the issue seemed unclear.

“[The public] want to hear what the One Bermuda Alliance’s real position is and, if they do intend to close the loophole at some point, they need to let us know why they employed this QC, seemingly at the last minute,” said Sen Rabain.

“Why did they appeal the ruling in the first place? They are sending out a confusing message, and I’m bringing it up because I get calls from people of Bermuda who want to know. There’s a lot of innuendo out there about 4,000 PRCs becoming Bermudians, or 1,500, 2,000. It all depends on who you listen to and what numbers you want to manipulate, but the fact is that there’s confusion on what the One Bermuda Alliance intends to do.”

He called on the Minister to clarify the Government’s position on the loophole and confirm if applications made by PRCs taking advantage of the loophole are not being processed until the legal issues are sorted out.

Meanwhile Senator Alexis Swan called on Opposition Leader Marc Bean to apologise for his comments in the House of Assembly debate on the same subject, in which he referred to “ladies of the night politics”.

Mr Bean told the House he believed the Government was using the loophole to advance an “anti-Bermudian agenda”, saying: “It can be described as, and I’m going to be parliamentary about this, as lady of the night politics. Lady of the night politics with the Bermudian people as the ladies of the night and the One Bermuda Alliance are the management of the ladies of the night. Did I say that diplomatically and parliamentary correct?

“This is lady of the night politics. It’s almost as if the Bermudian people are looked and secondarily, looked at as a means to an end instead of end within itself. It’s almost as if we are second class citizens by default when listening to the One Bermuda Alliance government.”

Later in his speech Mr Bean referred to “lady of the night, open-leg-ism” — a comment which he subsequently withdrew.

Ms Swan said yesterday that while he did withdraw the later comment, the Opposition Leader should apologise for the earlier comments which were not withdrawn.

“Obviously he made comments about ‘lady of the night politics’, ‘open-leg-ism’, that the One Bermuda Alliance is the management while the people of Bermuda are the ladies of the night. If you research those terms, ‘lady of the night’ means prostitute,” she said. “It’s very inappropriate for a leader and a parliamentarian altogether.

“There’s a level of respect that has to be given to people in the community. I definitely think it was very disrespectful. I think that there needs to be an apology given because it was very offensive to women as a whole. This is Mr and Mrs Bermuda that he is referring to, so those comments need to be addressed.”