Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The entitlement of a person to Irish citizenship is governed by the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956 as amended, (“the 1956 Act”). Citizenship by descent is provided for in section 7 of the 1956 Act. Section 7(1) of the 1956 Act provides that where a person was born to an Irish citizen parent, that person is an Irish citizen.

Section 7(3) of the 1956 Act adds an exception to this whereby a person born abroad to an Irish citizen parent, who was also born abroad, in order to be entitled to Irish citizenship through that parent, the details of the person’s birth must be entered on the Foreign Births Register (FBR).

In a recent judgment of the Supreme Court in Ireland, A, B and C v The Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade [2023] IESC 10, it was confirmed that section 7(1) of the 1956 Act when it uses the term “parent”, refers to the genetic father of the child and includes the birth mother of that child.

In 2023, there were seven applications for entry of a person’s birth on the Foreign Births Register where the grounds for refusal included consideration of the definition of the term “parent” for the purposes of section 7(1) of the 1956 Act.