Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy will be aware, the legal status of the person in question is a matter for the Department of Justice and Equality, which is responsible for citizenship and immigration matters. I can confirm that the person’s parents have submitted an application for an Irish passport. However that application is on hold, pending the receipt of guidance from the Department of Justice and Equality on the question of the status and citizenship entitlement of persons born in the State to a parent benefiting from subsidiary protection. This clarity is necessary due to the Department’s legal obligations under the Passports Act, 2008 as amended (“the Act”). The Act provides, among other things, that a person must be an Irish citizen before a passport can be issued to him/her. In order to meet this legal requirement, therefore, each person must demonstrate an entitlement to Irish citizenship in his/her application.

For those persons who were born in the State on or after 1 January 2005, their entitlement to Irish citizenship is governed by the terms of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act, 1956 as amended (“the 1956 Act”). Section 6A of the 1956 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 preceding his/her birth.

Proof of lawful residence in the State, to determine whether or not a parent has the required three year period of lawful residence, is required in all such passport applications.

In the case in question, the applicant’s parent had been granted Subsidiary Protection by the Department of Justice and Equality (D/JE) shortly before the applicant’s birth. This Department has sought confirmation from D/JE on whether such residence is reckonable for the purposes of citizenship under section 6A of the 1956 Act. Pending receipt of the requested guidance by the Department, the passport application submitted for the person in question cannot be finalised, as no entitlement to Irish citizenship has yet been demonstrated.