Mary Seery Kearney (Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Jack Chambers, for attending. The foreign births register is a particular register held by the Department of Foreign Affairs and is also known as the citizenship by descent register. Its normal use is in the context of passports being claimed by people who are perhaps the children of Irish citizens living abroad, and it is the method by which they obtain an Irish passport. However, it also has particular uses and requirements within Ireland. For example, if an individual becomes a naturalised Irish citizen and their child is born abroad, that child needs to go on the foreign births register.

There is a particular issue in regard to surrogacy, given that children born by international surrogacy, by virtue of the way it is, are born abroad. DNA is taken at the time of the birth. That is matched to the Irish citizen biological father and the child obtains an emergency travel document to come home to Ireland with the family. The entitlement is the fact that this is the biological child of an Irish citizen. If that Irish citizen happens to be a naturalised Irish citizen, the child, in order to obtain a passport, must then be entered onto the foreign births register.

By the time the family get to make that application, they have already had judicial oversight of all of their documentation because that father has had to apply to the courts for a parental order for the setting aside of consent of the surrogate in order to proceed. In itself, that is a process that can take anything from a couple of months to 18 months or a couple of years. The particular cases that I am concerned about are ones where the application has been made for the child to be entered onto the foreign births register, but well over a year later, there is no sign of that child being issued with a passport.

The website itself states that it is going to take a nine-month process, and I understand there are legalities. If I am applying from a foreign country with regard to my father, my grandfather, my mother or my grandmother, I understand that all of that needs to be verified. However, we have a situation where there are children for whom all of the documentation has already received judicial oversight in the country, and they are just slotted onto the list. They are living here but they cannot visit relations abroad or go abroad. I know of one particular case where a father had applied, and I am not even mentioning second fathers and mothers because we do not have legal standing in Ireland at the moment, although we will soon, hopefully. In the case of that one child in particular, the couple were desperate to get home to Lithuania to visit a dying great-grandmother of the baby. She died, but there was no way of expediting the process and no way of pushing them up the list, even though everything that is before the Department of Foreign Affairs has already had judicial oversight.

There is an appallingly long delay in the Department of Foreign Affairs. In instances like that, it is an unwarranted delay. It is a very straightforward system. The people are living here in the country and could go in to give oaths or do whatever is needed. There is no problem with the documentation but they are not getting anywhere fast. In one case, we are now 13 months down the road and no one will even answer a phone to this guy, send him an email or do anything. Either there is a lack of staffing or a lack of willingness - one of the two - and it needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency.

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank Senator Seery Kearney for raising this issue, which I am taking on behalf of the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs.

The Passport Service of the Department of Foreign Affairs is responsible for processing applications for citizenship by descent through the foreign births register under the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956, as amended. As the Senator will be aware, people born abroad may apply for Irish citizenship through foreign birth registration, FBR, if one of their grandparents was born in Ireland or if one of their parents acquired citizenship through FBR or naturalisation. Once a person is entered onto the foreign births register, they are an Irish citizen and are entitled to apply for an Irish passport. Foreign birth registration, by its nature, is a detailed and complex process. It can involve official documentation relating to three generations and issued by several different jurisdictions. To protect the integrity of the citizenship process, these applications require careful processing in order to validate the identity of the applicant, the documents they have submitted and their entitlement to Irish citizenship. Accordingly, all applications undergo rigorous and detailed checking by experienced officers of the Passport Service.

Demand for foreign birth registration services reached unprecedented levels following the Brexit referendum in 2016. Prior to that referendum, FBR applications averaged 5,000 to 6,000 per year. However, post referendum, demand for citizenship via foreign birth registration has increased significantly. The most recent full-year figures saw over 35,000 applications received by the Passport Service in 2023. Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, the processing time for foreign birth registration applications stood at 18 months due to the dramatic increase in applications as a result of Brexit. The FBR service was also impacted by necessary Covid-19 restrictions in 2020 and 2021, as well as the unprecedented demand seen in 2022. The service was paused for 15 months across the 2020 to 2021 period, after which the turnaround time was over two years.

Since September 2022, significant extra resources have been deployed. I am pleased to inform the Senator that as a result of the deployment of these resources, the processing time has been reduced to the normal turnaround time of between eight and nine months, which is a 75% reduction in processing time since 2022.

In the medium term, changes to the foreign birth registration process to increase efficiencies and improve the customer experience will be delivered under the next phase of the Department’s passport reform programme. I assure the Seanad that the Department of Foreign Affairs is fully committed to maintaining the necessary resources needed to assist with dealing with the high volume of applications.I recognise the specific context of the case the Senator has outlined, which should receive the attention of officials in the Department of Foreign Affairs. We will ask for that engagement and that the matter be reflected on based on what she has set out today.

Mary Seery Kearney (Fine Gael)
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I really appreciate the Minister of State's reply. An Irish passport is a precious document and there should be no shortcuts in applying for it for people who are abroad and probably already have a passport of the country in which they live. Where a British citizen is seeking an Irish passport on the basis of descent, for example, that is a reasonable proposition. The case I have outlined is not the same. These are children who have no other state. It has been adjudicated on by the High Court that they are Irish citizens. There are orders and documentation from the court to that effect. DNA has been produced. All of that evidence was put before the court and the latter has issued orders.

My argument is that there should be a red-circled group of applicants and an expedited list. The persons I referred to should jump to the top because they do not have another passport. The family to which I referred is prohibited from travelling, full stop, because the parents will not travel without their baby. It is unreasonable that an Irish citizen child resident in this country is denied a passport or the issuing of a passport is delayed because of this issue. I completely respect that the process needs to be robust but I am referring to a special group. I am asking for a red-circling of that group and special treatment for it.

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Senator again for the opportunity to update the Seanad on the foreign birth registration process. The passport service is fully committed to ensuring the timeframe of eight to nine months as we go forward. An average of 900 applications are approved each week, with 29,000 applications currently awaiting processing. The FBR team provides an emergency service for foreign birth registration in cases of exceptional urgency such as for expectant parents or stateless persons. The passport service continues to work closely with the HR division and the Public Appointments Service to recruit additional staff to meet the current and forecast demand for both passports and foreign birth registration.

In the context of the national development plan, the Government is making a major investment in the future of the passport service. Over the next couple of years, the Department will replace the core technology underpinning the service, which will deliver efficiencies to the foreign birth registration and passport services. I assure the Seanad of the importance the Government attaches to the integrity of the FBR process, which processes these applications for Irish citizenship in a timely manner. We will reflect on the Senator's wider point regarding the sensitivity around cases involving children. I thank her for raising the issue.

Mary Seery Kearney (Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State.