Written Answers. - Irish Citizenship's Application.
Avril Doyle
Question:
185
Mrs. Doyle
asked the
Minister for Justice
the reason the application for Irish citizenship made by a person (details supplied) and which is fully paid for to the Irish Consul, Johannesburg, South Africa in 1986 has not been processed; and when this application will be processed.
The background to the application referred to by the Deputy, which is one of a large number of such applications, is as follows.
The Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act, 1986 which introduced certain amendments to the 1956 Act of the same name provides that a person born outside Ireland may register as an Irish citizen if he or she has an Irish-born grandparent or, in certain circumstances, great-grandparent. The applicant's details are registered in the Foreign Births Register in the Department of Foreign Affairs or in the Foreign Births Entry Book kept in missions abroad.
The 1986 Act tightened up the provisions contained in the 1956 Act by providing, amongst other things, that the fourth generation applicant — that is, a person whose great-grandparent was born in Ireland — can be registered only if the parent through whom he or she is claiming Irish descent was already registered at the time of his or her birth.
Section 8 of the 1986 Act contains a transitional provision which provided for a six month grace period ending on 31 December 1986 during which the previous provisions continued to apply. The period, however related not to the receipt of applications but to the completion of the process — that is, registration.
During the period of grace, the number of fourth generation applications for registration received by the Department of Foreign Affair and diplomatic and consular missions abroad reached unprecedented levels, in particular at the Consulate General in New York and the Consulate in Johannesburg. Emergency measures were taken to deal with the large volume of applications, including the employment of additional staff and the sanctioning of overtime. The result of that was that over 4,200 applications were processed in the 12 months ending 31 December 1986, a considerable achievement given that the overall total processed in the previous three years was somewhat less than that. However, there remained over 3,000 applications from fourth generation and mixed third/fourth generation applicants which had not been registered by the end of 1986.
When it was realised that the backlog of applications could not be dealt with by the end of the statutory deadline, the views of the then Attorney General were sought. The advice received was to the effect that there is no legal basis on which to grant registration to those who had been caught by the deadline of 31 December 1986 and that amending legislation was required to allow for the registration as Irish citizens of those persons who had applied but whose applications had not been finalised.
Since then, the position is that a number of other possible changes in the legislation governing Irish citizenship have been under consideration and consultations in the matter have been taking place between the Departments of Justice and Foreign Affairs. However, it is my view that the situation needs to be tackled as a matter of urgency bearing in mind the case cited by the Deputy and the many other similar cases which have remained unresolved for some years. It is my intention to submit proposals to the Government as soon as possible.
