Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour) | Oireachtas source

To date, 1,929 certificates of Irish heritage have been issued, approximately 60% in the US, 13% in Australia and 11% in Canada. with the vast majority of the global diaspora no longer eligible for Irish citizenship, the certificate of Irish heritage was introduced to recognise descendents of previous generations of Irish citizens in an official way and to give greater practical expression to the sense of Irish identity felt by many around the world.

Official recognition of our diaspora is an issue that is regularly raised by our overseas communities. The concept of a certificate of Irish heritage received new impetus following the 2009 publication of the strategic review of relations between Ireland and the United States. The review recommended exploring ways of encouraging and facilitating people to give expression to their Irish ancestry in order to maintain strong ties with such groups, both now and in the future. This proposal was also supported by participants at the 2009 Global Irish Economic Forum in Farmleigh.

Following a public tender in April 2010, Fexco was awarded the contract to operate the certificate of Irish heritage on behalf of the Department. Under the terms of the contract, Fexco developed the web systems and necessary software. Fexco also processes applications, issues certificates and is the initial point of contact for all customer inquiries.

Full details on the eligibility criteria are available on but, in general, applications are open to persons who were not born on the island of Ireland and who can provide details connecting them to an individual Irish ancestor. The website also provides a selection of stories from certificate recipients highlighting how important their Irish heritage is to them.

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