John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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Question 212: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs if a person (details supplied) in County Carlow is entitled to an Irish passport; the reason their application was refused; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26666/09]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Every applicant for an Irish passport must first establish that he or she is an Irish citizen. The passport application referred to by the Deputy was submitted on behalf of the child in question by his parents to the Passport Office on 10 January, 2007. As the applicant was born in Ireland in 2006, his application was considered under the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act, 2004. This Act provides that persons born in the State after 1 January 2005, where neither parent is an Irish or British citizen or otherwise entitled to reside without restriction in the State or in Northern Ireland, may claim citizenship by birth in the State (and thereby establish eligibility for a passport) only where a parent has been lawfully resident in the State for 3 years of the 4 years preceding their birth.

In the case of applications for passports arising from the terms of the 2004 Act, it is the practice of the Passport Office to seek evidence of lawful residence in the State by one or both parents. The types of evidence considered are immigration stamps in passports and Garda National Immigration Bureau cards and registration books. The evidence submitted showed that the child's mother had accrued 1,021 days reckonable residence in the four year's prior to his birth. As this fell short of the 1,095 days required, the residency requirement was not met and the child's entitlement to Irish citizenship was not demonstrated. Accordingly, his passport application could not be approved.

The Passport Office wrote to the applicant's parents on 18 January, 2007 to advise them of its decision and the reasons behind it. They were requested to furnish further evidence of their claimed period of three years reckonable residence. Further passport applications were forwarded on behalf of the child on 19 December 2008 and on 12 May 2009. Unfortunately, neither of these applications provides any additional evidence of reckonable residence by his parents. These applications will be cancelled and the fees refunded.

My Department will retain the photographs from the most recent application and associate these with the original application made in 2007. It remains open to the applicant's parents to pursue his application for a passport by submitting further evidence of reckonable residence. Should they require any assistance in this regard, they should contact Mr Kevin Walzer of the Passport Office at (01) 673 3215 or by e-mail to kevin.walzer@dfa.ie.