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Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 15 Jul 1982

Vol. 337 No. 11

Written Answers. - Citizenship Law.

432.

asked the Minister for Justice whether he is aware of the discrimination against men which exists in our nationality laws and practice which permits a foreign woman to acquire post-nuptial citizenship automatically on marriage but which do not permit a similar privilege to a man who marries an Irish citizen; and whether he will take steps to remedy this anomaly.

While the relevant section reflects a provision in a United Nation Convention which sought to give special treatment to foreign wives in the interests of facilitating uniformity of nationality in a family unit, I would agree that it must nowadays be regarded as anomalous and I feel sure that there would be general agreement that a change would be justified. How best the anomaly should be removed would however need careful consideration and, besides, there are other issues in our citizenship laws that need review.

Accordingly, I agree generally with the approach indicated by my predecessor in a fairly detailed reply to a question on the same subject on 17 December last and I hope to deal with this matter and other citizenship matters as soon as circumstances permit.

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