Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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426. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality when procedures will be cleared to facilitate the issue of a passport in the case of a child (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3782/20]

Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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It is open to the person concerned to lodge an application for a certificate of naturalisation if they have 5 years (60 Months) reckonable residency on the date of the application.

The minor the Deputy has referred to would not be entitled to a passport as he or she was born in the State after 1 January 2005 and therefore was not entitled to Irish Citizenship at the time of their birth.  However, if at the time of the birth one of his or her parents had been a resident in the State for a period of 4 years immediately preceding the birth, the child would have been entitled to make an application for Irish citizenship.  

The Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956 as amended provides that an application may be submitted for a minor if the minor's parents have already been naturalised or if the minor is of Irish descent or has Irish associations or, at the time of their birth, was not entitled to Irish Citizenship but has since accumulated 5 years reckonable residency in the State.

Minors cannot apply for naturalisation by themselves. The application must be made by their parent, legal guardian or person acting on the child's behalf "in loco parentis". 

For the purpose of naturalisation, reckonable residency (i.e. stamp 1, stamp 3 or stamp 4), is calculated by counting months of permission to remain in the state. Reckonable residency is reflected in the corresponding stamp 1, stamp 3 or stamp 4 endorsements in a person's passport. To meet the statutory residency criteria as laid out in the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956 (as amended), an individual needs to have 60 months (5 years) reckonable residency with the year immediately before the date of application being of continuous residency. 

Further information on applying for naturalisation can be found on my Department's website athttps://www.irishimmigration.ie/citizenship/.  

Queries in relation to the status of individual immigration cases may be made directly to my Department by e-mail using the Oireachtas Mail facility which has been specifically established for this purpose. This service enables up to date information on such cases to be obtained without the need to seek information by way of the Parliamentary Questions process. The Deputy may consider using the e-mail service except in cases where the response is, in the Deputy’s view, inadequate or too long awaited.