I move that the Bill be now read a Second Time. The object of this Bill is to amend the provision of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act, 1935 which requires that the registration of persons entitled to acquire citizenship by registration must be effected within two years from the date of the passing of the Act. The provision in question is contained in sub-section (5) of Section 2 of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act, 1935. The persons to whom the provision relates are persons born before the 6th December, 1922, either in Ireland, or of parents one of whom was born in Ireland, who were not domiciled in Ireland on the 6th December, 1922 and consequently did not become citizens under Article 3 of the Constitution of Saorstát Eireann. Such persons if still living abroad and not naturalized citizens of any other country were enabled by the Act of 1935 to become citizens of this country by the simple process of registration. The registration was effected in a register of nationals kept in an Irish Legation or Irish Consulate in the country in which the applicants resided, or if there were no Irish Legation or Irish Consulate in that country, in the general register of nationals kept in the Department of External Affairs. The registration, however, had to be effected within a period of two years from the date of the passing of the Act of 1935. That Act became law on the 10th April, 1935 and, consequently, the period in which registration could legally be effected expired on the 9th-10th April of the present year.
A large number of applications by persons who would be eligible for registration but for the expiration of the time-limit of two years imposed by the sub-section in question have been received since 10th April last, and it is thought that in these and in future cases where the Minister for Justice is satisfied that applicants should be admitted to citizenship the statutory limitation of time should be removed. That is the only amendment of the Act of 1935 proposed in the present Bill.
