asked the Minister for External Affairs if he is aware that Mr. Jacob Ellis, of 87 Kenilworth Square, Rathgar, in the County of Dublin, a citizen of the Irish Free State, under Article 3 of the Constitution, has been unable to get a passport to visit his family in Lithuania, and was informed that the only passports issued were British passports, and that Mr. Ellis was disentitled to such a passport, inasmuch as, though a citizen of this State, he was not also a citizen of some other co-equal State of the Commonwealth; further to ask, if this be true, what steps a citizen of this State is required to take, so as to get a passport over and above the citizenship conferred on him by the Constitution passed and adopted by the Constituent Assembly of Saorstát Eireann and the Parliament of Great Britain, and duly confirmed by the Crown.
CEISTEANNA—QUESTIONS. [ORAL ANSWERS.] - IRISH CITIZENS AND PASSPORTS.
for Minister for External Affairs: Investigations are still in progress with regard to this matter. Doubts have been raised as to whether Mr. Ellis, in fact, is an Irish Citizen under Article 3 of the Constitution, as it is understood that he did not reside in Ireland during the period from April, 1919 to December, 1920.
Arising out of that answer, may I ask if these doubts can be satisfactorily set at rest by Mr. Ellis, before a competent authority, can one take it that the passport will issue?
Mr. O'HIGGINS
I think one can take it that the passport will issue.