Written answers

Tuesday, 15 June 2021

Department of Justice and Equality

Constitutional Amendments

Photo of Willie O'DeaWillie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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1158. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if she plans to support the restoration of birthright citizenship in Ireland against the wishes of the Irish electorate who voted overwhelmingly in favour of restricting birthright citizenship in the 2004 referendum. [31930/21]

Photo of Heather HumphreysHeather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy will be aware, following the 2004 referendum, the 27th amendment to the Constitution was inserted as follows:

ARTICLE 9

2 1° Notwithstanding any other provision of this Constitution, a person born in the island of Ireland, which includes its islands and seas, who does not have, at the time of the birth of that person, at least one parent who is an Irish citizen or entitled to be an Irish citizen is not entitled to Irish citizenship or nationality, unless provided for by law.

2° This section shall not apply to persons born before the date of the enactment of this section.

This Article enables the Oireachtas to legislate for the terms of entitlement to Irish citizenship for children born in the State. The existing citizenship laws are based on lawful and reckonable residency of the parent or parents of the child and this will continue to be the case under the proposed amendments to the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956, contained in the General scheme of the Courts and Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2021.

Section 15 of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956 sets out the conditions for the grant of a certificate of naturalisation conferring Irish citizenship on a minor born in the State. One of the conditions for naturalisation is that the applicant must have had one year’s continuous residence in the State immediately before the date of the application and 4 years residence during the 8 years preceding that.

The General Scheme of the Courts and Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2021, which was published last week, includes a proposed amendment to section 15 of the 1956 Act to reduce the residence requirement for naturalisation for minors born in the State from the current 4 year residence requirement to 2 years. In effect, this will replace a 5 year residency requirement with a 3 year residency requirement with the requirement of one year’s continuous residence in the State immediately before the date of application continuing to apply.

I know that it has been a cause for concern for some that children born in Ireland to non-Irish parents do not have an automatic entitlement to citizenship. The Government fully respects the amendment of the Constitution approved by the Irish people in the 2004 referendum; however, we believe that providing a shorter pathway to citizenship is the right thing to do for these children. The Oireachtas will have the opportunity to debate the proposed changes to the legislation in the normal way.

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