Written answers

Tuesday, 24 May 2016

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

Passport Services

Photo of Kate O'ConnellKate O'Connell (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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348. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the status of granting Irish passports to persons born to parents from outside the European Economic Area after 2005, 2007 and 2011; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11747/16]

Photo of Charles FlanaganCharles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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All passport applications are subject to the terms of the Passports Act, 2008, as amended (the Act). This provides a legal basis for the issue of passports. It broadly requires that:

- a person must be an Irish citizen;

- his/her identity is proven; and

- in the case of a child, the witnessed consent of that child’s guardian(s) is provided.

Citizenship

Irish citizenship is subject to the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act, 1956, as amended. An amendment of this Act in 2004 governed the entitlement to Irish citizenship for any child, who was born on the island of Ireland on or after 1 January, 2005, by the citizenship of his/her parents at the time of his/her birth or by the residency history of one of the parents prior to the child’s birth.

For those children of non-EEA parents, who were born on the island of Ireland, the following categories of citizenship may apply to them:

- A child may qualify for Irish citizenship if at least one parent has legally resided in Ireland for three of the four years preceding his/her birth. The parent in question must submit with the child’s passport application a detailed statement outlining his/her claimed periods of lawful residence. S/he must also provide proofs to verify such residence. The kind of proofs that are acceptable in the context of a passport applications are immigration stamps on passports and/or registration cards which are issued by the Garda National Immigration Bureau.

- Irish citizenship can also be demonstrated if the child’s parent has a permission under the immigration laws of the United Kingdom to reside in Northern Ireland without any restriction on his/her period of residence. In this case, the parent’s passport containing the relevant stamp would have to be submitted with the child’s passport application.

- If the child was born outside the State, s/he may qualify for Irish citizenship through an Irish-born grandparent. This citizenship process is known as Foreign Birth Registration (FBR) and is administered by the Consular Section in this Department. FBR certificates are issued to those applicants who can successfully establish their family link to Irish-born grandparents. This certificate must be submitted with a passport application form to demonstrate the person’s Irish citizenship. More information about this category of citizenship is available on the Passport Service’s website – www.passport.ie.

It may be the case that the child does not qualify for any of the proceeding citizenship categories. In this situation and subject to the length of his/her residence in the State, s/he may be eligible to become a naturalised Irish citizen. To do this, s/he will have to apply to the Department of Justice and Equality (D/JE), which is responsible for citizenship matters, and obtain a certificate of naturalisation. This certificate would be acceptable evidence of his/her Irish citizenship in any future passport application. More information about naturalisation is available on

Identity

In terms of identity, the proper Garda witnessing of the child’s application form and photographs along with the submission of his/her long form birth certificate and the entry of the child’s PPS number on the application form will be sufficient to meet the Act’s identity requirements.

Guardianship consent

The Act requires the witnessed of the child’s guardian(s). More information on the various scenarios that arise in this area, is available on the Passport Service’s website – www.passport.ie.

Photo of John BrassilJohn Brassil (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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349. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade why a person (details supplied) cannot be issued with an Irish passport; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11404/16]

Photo of Charles FlanaganCharles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

All passport applications are subject to the terms of the Passports Act, 2008, as amended. This provides a legal basis for the issue of passports. It broadly requires that:

- a person must be an Irish citizen;

and - his/her identity is proven.

From the details supplied, there is no record of an application from the person in question on the passport system. It is, therefore, open to her to submit a passport application. In doing so, she may wish to consider the following:

Citizenship

Any person, who was born outside the State, may qualify for Irish citizenship through an Irish-born parent. If this is the case, civil birth, marriage and possibly death certificates should be submitted with a passport application form to establish the family link to the Irish-born parent.

Citizenship entitlement can also be demonstrated through an Irish-born grandparent. This citizenship process is known as Foreign Birth Registration (FBR) and is administered by the Consular Section in this Department. FBR certificates are issued to those applicants who can successfully establish their family link to Irish-born grandparents. This certificate must be submitted with a passport application form to verify the person’s Irish citizenship.

It may be the case that the person does not qualify for any of the proceeding citizenship categories. In this situation and subject to the length of her residence in the State, she may be eligible to become a naturalised Irish citizen. To do this, she will have to apply to the Department of Justice and Equality, which is responsible for citizenship matters, and obtain a certificate of naturalisation. This certificate would be acceptable evidence of her Irish citizenship in any future passport application. More information about naturalisation is available on .

Identity

In terms of identity, the proper Garda witnessing of the person’s application form and photographs along with the submission of her Public Service card will be sufficient to meet the Act’s identity requirements.

More information about passport entitlement is available on the Passport Service’s website – www.passport.ie.

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