Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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177. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the reason one of the children of a person (details supplied) in Dublin 24 does not qualify for an Irish passport, while the child's parents and siblings are all Irish passport holders, in view of the fact that they were born here; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15121/15]

Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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The Department wrote to the applicant’s parents on 27 November, 2014 to give notice of its intention to refuse him a passport under the Passports Act, 2008 (the Act) on the grounds that he was not an Irish citizen. This letter explained that the submitted application did not demonstrate their son’s entitlement to Irish citizenship under section 6A of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act, 1956 as amended (the 1956 Act); the 1956 Act was amended in 2004 to stipulate 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; and (iii) the submitted evidence of the mother’s lawful residence in the State covered the period 12 April, 2006 to 4 January, 2009. This fell short of the three year period as required by Section 6A of the 1956 Act. On this basis, the applicant was not considered to be an Irish citizen and thus had no entitlement to a passport.

In a reply, dated 11 December, 2014, the parents referred to the fact that their three older children were all issued with Irish passports. They accepted, however, that their son did not qualify for citizenship under section 6A of the 1956 Act. Nonetheless, they were of the view that he was an Irish citizen by virtue of his birth and length of residence in the State.

These points, however, failed to demonstrate his entitlement to Irish citizenship for the following reasons:

the applicant’s siblings were all born in Ireland before 1 January, 2005. The 2004 amendment of the 1956 Act did not, therefore, apply to them. Accordingly, they were all Irish citizens from birth; and (b) the lawful residence of the applicant in Ireland is relevant to an application for naturalisation. No evidence has been presented to the Department to show that he is a naturalised citizen.

As the correspondence from the applicant’s parents failed to establish his entitlement to Irish citizenship, the Department wrote to them on 29 December, 2014 to inform them that a passport had been refused to him.

It should be noted that this decision was taken on the basis that entitlement to Irish citizenship had not been proven under section 6A of the 1956 Act. It may well be the case that such entitlement may exist under the naturalisation provisions of that Act. The applicant’s parents may, therefore, wish to pursue this matter with the Department of Justice and Equality which processes applications for this category of citizenship.