Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade when an application for a passport in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Westmeath will be dealt with pursuant to the provisions of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 2004; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3478/13]

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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The Passports Act, 2008 provides, among other things, that only Irish citizens are entitled to be issued with Irish passports. Each application received by the Passport Service must, therefore, demonstrate that person’s entitlement to Irish citizenship before a passport can issue to him/her. As regards the person in question, I can confirm that an application for a passport was received by the Department last August. The child was born in Mullingar on 1 April 2009. His entitlement to Irish citizenship is subject to the terms of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act, 1956 as amended (the Act). The Act provides that a person, born in the State on or after 1 January 2005, where neither parent is an Irish or British citizen or otherwise entitled to reside in the State or Northern Ireland without restriction at the time of that person’s birth, may claim citizenship by birth in the State (and thereby establish eligibility for an Irish passport) only where a parent has been lawfully resident in the State for three years of the four years preceding that person’s birth.

Moreover, the Act makes particular provision for nationals of EU Member States, who may make a declaration concerning their residence in the island of Ireland within the four years preceding their children’s birth. In such cases, the EU national is regarded as having resided in the island of Ireland for the declared periods for the purposes of the Act, unless the contrary is proved. These declarations must be supported by documentary evidence (e.g. tax documents, bank statements, social welfare benefit payments, work permits, rent leases etc) to verify actual and continuous residence.

The submitted application did not demonstrate the child’s entitlement to Irish citizenship. The Department wrote to the applicant’s parents on three occasions to inform them of this and to advise them of the requirements, which were needed to finalise the application to passport issue. It should be noted that attempts were also made to contact the applicant’s mother by telephone but these were unsuccessful.

On 3 January, 2013 the applicant’s mother wrote to the Department and to indicate that they did not wish to pursue their child’s passport application any longer. The application was subsequently cancelled.

It remains open to the parents to submit another application for a passport for their child. However, such an application must address the identified failings of the recent application. In this regard the following advice is offered:

(a) the declaration made by either parent in respect of their residence on the island of Ireland must state the date of their arrival into the State. This is important detail as it acts as a mark in terms of the four year review period of their residence prior to their child date of birth (i.e. 1 April, 2005 to 31 March 2009);

(b) sufficient evidence must be submitted to show the parents’ continuous residence during the four year review period. The evidence submitted (i.e. payslips and a single P60) are the type of documents that are acceptable for this purpose.