Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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591. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of citizenship certificates granted by the State in each of the past 20 years. [39877/20]

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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592. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of citizenship certificates granted by the State to persons on the grounds that they were born in Ireland in each of the years between 2000 and 2010. [39878/20]

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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593. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of citizenship certificates granted by the State to children in each of the years between 2000 and 2010. [39879/20]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 591 to 593, inclusive, together.

Entitlement to Irish citizenship is governed by the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956, as amended. The Act distinguishes between the entitlement to citizenship by birth and descent and to the acquisition of citizenship through the naturalisation process.

Following a referendum of the Irish people, the 27th amendment to the Constitution changed the situation in relation to entitlement to Irish Citizenship. As a result, Section 6 of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956 was amended by the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act, 2004.

The changes came into effect on 1 January 2005. As of that date, a person born in the island of Ireland is not entitled to be an Irish citizen, unless that person's parents have been legally resident in the island of Ireland for a total of three years during the four years preceding that person's birth. The parent of a child who meets these requirements can apply directly to the Department of Foreign Affairs for an Irish passport and therefore does not require a naturalisation certificate.

It is open to the parent, guardian or person who is in loco parentis to the child to lodge an application for naturalisation on behalf of the child if and when the conditions for naturalisation are satisfied, including a requirement to have a total of 5 years residence in the State. This ensures that there is a pathway to obtaining Irish citizenship through the naturalisation process for those children.

No applications for citizenship were granted to children born in the State during the period 2000 to 2010 because prior to 2005, a child born in the State had an automatic entitlement to Irish citizenship and thereafter they must have 5 years residence before making an application.

Table 1 below sets out the certificates granted since 2010 to minors born in the State who did not at birth have an entitlement to Irish citizenship.

Table 1

Some or all of the conditions for naturalisation may be waived where the applicant is a naturalised Irish citizen acting on behalf of their minor child. Last year, 94% of certificates issued in respect of minors were cases where the parent was a naturalised Irish citizen.

Table 2 below sets out the certificates granted since 2000 in respect of all minors under the age of 18.

Table 2

Table 3 below sets out the number of citizenship certificates granted by the State in each of the past 20 years.

Table 3