Frank O'Rourke (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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665. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the timeframe for a decision on the legal status of a person (details supplied) of a child born here; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26668/17]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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At the outset, it is important to clarify that the legal status of any non-national in the State is a matter for the Irish immigration authorities, namely the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service and the Garda National Immigration Bureau.

As Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade I am responsible for implementation of the terms of the Passports Act, 2008, which provides, inter alia, that a person must be an Irish citizen before a passport can be issued to him/her. In order to meet this legal requirement, each person must, therefore, demonstrate an entitlement to Irish citizenship in his/her application. The Deputy may recall from previous correspondence that – (i) The child in question was born in Dublin in November 2015. Their entitlement to Irish citizenship is governed by the terms Section 6A of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act, 1956 as amended (the 1956 Act). Section 6A 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 preceding his/her birth; and (ii) Proofs of the lawful residence in the State are required to determine if a parent has the required three year residence. In this case, the child’s mother submitted evidence lawful residence under Subsidiary Protection for the required period. At the time of my previous correspondence, my Department was seeking clarification from the Department of Justice and Equality on the child’s entitlement to Irish citizenship. Specifically, these enquiries centered on whether residence under Subsidiary Protection could be reckoned for the purposes of Section 6A of the 1956 Act and how such residence should be calculated. I accept that there has been a delay in reaching a decision and this can be partly explained by legal proceedings involving the Department of Justice and Equality that featured residence under Subsidiary Protection in another case. These proceedings have concluded and officials from both Departments met last week to discuss the application or otherwise of Subsidiary Protection residence to the requirements of Section 6A of the 1956 Act. These discussions are at an advanced stage.