Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

It is not a power of revocation. If someone went to Iveagh House and said they were the parent of a child who was born in Ireland, and said they had been in Ireland for four years at the time that child was born, and by doing so procured a passport for that child, the person would not be conferring citizenship on the child. On the day it was born the child either was or was not an Irish citizen. The parent would be doing something else, so it is not a matter of me revoking anything.

If I discovered that I had been duped into issuing a certificate of nationality, I would revoke it. Revoking the certificate of nationality would not, of itself, mean that the child was or was not an Irish citizen because that is determined as a matter of objective fact, which no amount of certification by me, one way or the other, can change. If the child was not an Irish citizen and I erroneously issue a certificate of nationality for whatever purpose, or the Department of Foreign Affairs erroneously issues a passport, it does not make the child an Irish citizen.