Written answers

Wednesday, 10 May 2006

Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform

Citizenship Applications

9:00 pm

Photo of Caoimhghín Ó CaoláinCaoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Question 77: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform further to Parliamentary Question No. 449 of 3 May 2006, if the parents apply for naturalisation prior to the child reaching five years of age, would they not be allowed to apply at the same time on their child's behalf; if not, his views on the peculiarity of the situation that will arise when children who were born in and have lived all their lives here and whose parents are naturalised Irish citizens are not themselves Irish citizens; if he will introduce changes to the law to deal with this anomaly and to allow minor children resident here to become citizens at the same time their parents become citizens. [17604/06]

Photo of Michael McDowellMichael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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In his previous Question, the Deputy sought information specifically on the procedure by which a child born in the State after 1 January 2005, whose parents were not Irish citizens, could obtain Irish citizenship. In my response, I set out the procedure for a child in such circumstances to obtain Irish citizenship. The situation is different for such a child if his/her parent or parents obtain a certificate of naturalisation in advance of the child's eligibility to apply under the procedure set out in my previous reply.

Section 16 of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act, 1956, as amended, provides for the exercise of my absolute discretion to grant naturalisation in certain circumstances, where the application did not comply with the statutory conditions for naturalisation. One of these circumstances is where the application is submitted by a naturalised Irish citizen acting on behalf of his or her minor child. Hundreds of minor children are naturalised in this way each year.

It is open to the parents of a child born in the island of Ireland on or after 1 January 2005, who did not, at the time of the child's birth, have the necessary residence in Ireland for their child to be entitled to Irish citizenship, to apply for naturalisation for their Irish born child at any time after they themselves obtain naturalisation. It is not possible for such persons to apply for naturalisation for their minor children at the same time they themselves apply.

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