Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 9:

In page 10, between lines 34 and 35, to insert the following:“ “stateless person” means a person who is not considered as a national by any state under the operation of its law;”.

A number of different organisations with which we have had discussion on this area have raised concerns about the issue of statelessness. I note that the Irish Refugee Council, IRC, in particular has recommended that a definition of statelessness be included in the Bill. Under section 2, Ireland must, as a signatory to the 1954 UN Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, uphold its commitments in this regard. This would also require establishing a procedure to identify stateless applicants. The IRC supports the Immigrant Council of Ireland's recommendations with respect to statelessness which it made under the general scheme of the International Protection Bill. Guidance as to the content of a definition of statelessness could be taken from Article 1 of the 1954 UN Convention which states, "For the purpose of this Convention, the term 'stateless person' means a person who is not considered as a national by any State under the operation of its law".

I would like the Minister of State to clarify the situation of children who have been born in direct provision. Under a previous Government there was a change to the constitutional rights of certain children who were born to non-nationals here which rendered them stateless. Will the Minister also outline whether the matter will be addressed in the context of the Bill? We have discussed the rights of the child. We have a constitutional amendment which says that all children are to be treated equally, but Ireland does not treat children in an equal manner, particularly if we render them stateless which has ramifications on very practical issues such as children in direct provision being eligible for child benefit and so on. Statelessness is an important issue. Perhaps the Minister of State can elucidate for us where the Department stands on the issue and how this Bill will rectify some of those issues.