Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North-Central, Fianna Fail)
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534. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the options open to a person (details supplied) who urgently needs to apply for a passport; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9710/25]

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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A person can become an Irish citizen if one of their parents was an Irish citizen at the time of their birth, even though they were not born on the island of Ireland, or through an Irish national grandparent born in Ireland.

In such cases, a person can become an Irish citizen through Foreign Birth Registration. Once a person is entered onto the Foreign Births Register they are an Irish citizen and entitled to apply for an Irish passport and do not need to apply for naturalisation.

The Foreign Births Register is the responsibility of the Department of Foreign Affairs. Further information is available at the following link: .

The only other means the person concerned can obtain Irish citizenship is through naturalisation.

All applications for a certificate of naturalisation are assessed individually in accordance with the provisions of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956, as amended. A determination on whether an applicant satisfies the statutory criteria for naturalisation

Applicants are required to have 5 years reckonable residence in the State prior to making an application, except for spouses of Irish nationals and people granted International Protection where the requirement is 3 years. In all cases, the final 12 months must be continuous residence in the State with up to 70 days allowed to facilitate foreign travel for business family or holiday purposes.

Detailed information on how to apply for naturalisation and other resources is available on my Department’s Immigration website at the following link: .

As an Oireachtas member, you can also request the status of individual immigration cases by e-mail, using the Oireachtas Mail facility at: IMoireachtasmail@justice.ie, 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 Question process.