Tom Enright
Question:163 Mr. Enright asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if an application for citizenship was received from persons (details supplied); if so, the date the application was received; and when the application will be processed.
Vol. 411 No. 1
163 Mr. Enright asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if an application for citizenship was received from persons (details supplied); if so, the date the application was received; and when the application will be processed.
164 Mr. Enright asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the present number of applications for Irish citizenship submitted prior to the end of December 1986 deadline when the new Act came into force; if he will give details of (a) the number of applications processed and approved prior to the end of December 1986 and (b) the number of individuals who applied and paid their application fee and who are still awaiting approval; whether he has had any discussions with the Minister for Justice about rectifying this serious problem; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 163 and 164 together.
The Irish Citizenship and Nationality Act, 1956, provided that any person, one of whose grandparents was born in Ireland, was entitled to Irish citizenship subject to registration. In such a case, citizenship was deemed to date from 17 July 1956, the date of passage of the Act, or the person's date of birth, whichever was the later.
Where an applicant's citizenship took effect from the date of the Act, then any child of the applicant born after that date was in turn entitled to Irish citizenship, as the child of a person who was now deemed to have been an Irish citizen at the time of the child's birth, even if the parent had not actually been a citizen at the time.