Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 25 Mar 1993

Vol. 428 No. 3

Adjournment Debates. - Justice Matter.

Mrs. Owen

Despite Ireland's demands and encouragements to American firms to set up in Ireland and demands to the American Government, renewed again last week during St. Patrick's Day celebrations, to allow more of our young Irish people to be legalised in the United States, Ireland continues to refuse passports to many thousands of eligible United States citizens who applied for Irish passports under the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act, 1986.

Problems arose when the 1986 legislation was being implemented and people eligible to apply for registration of foreign birth had to do so by 31 December 1986. Many thousands of people in the United States, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and other countries made application. No special provision were made in the embassies and consul offices in those countries to deal with the huge numbers eligible to apply. For that reason many applications were received on time but were not dealt with by 31 December 1986. Early in 1987 the Attorney General advised the Government that an amendment to the 1986 legislation was required to enable registration after 31 December 1986 of applications that had been received on time but had not been registered.

I have been trying for at least four years, and have approached successive Ministers of Justice, to have the necessary amending legislation brought in. My pleas have fallen on deaf ears. It is now a matter of great embarrassment to Irish diplomats, particularly in the United States but also elsewhere, that applicants are constantly writing to embassies asking when the matter will be clarified and sorted out. There is no controversy attached to the amendment of the legislation, and it is, therefore, important for good relations with other countries that the Minister immediately arranges to have the amendment tabled. The matter has been raised in the United States Congress by Congressman Ray McGrath and personally with the former Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Gerry Collins, but nothing has been done. One applicant wrote to the Taoiseach but after three months had still not received even an acknowledgement of his letter. The Minister may have come across applicants caught in this trap while on her recent long visit to Australia.

I now ask the Minister to introduce the amending legislation that will, after nearly six years, allow these people to get their Irish passports.

Mr. Aylward

I make this reply on behalf of the Minister for Justice and I apologise for her absence.

The Minister for Justice explained in some detail the background to this issue in response to a parliamentary question on Tuesday last from Deputy Avril Doyle. I think it would be helpful if I repeated now for the information of the House what the Minister said in her reply.

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, among 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 months 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 Affairs 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, the Minister for Justice made it clear on Tuesday last that the situation needs to be tackled as a matter of urgency, bearing in mind the many cases which have remained unresolved for some years. The Minister also made it clear that it is her intention to submit proposals to the Government with a view to resolving this issue as soon as possible.

Mrs. Owen

I received that answer two years ago, I was told the matter was under review.

The Dáil adjourned at 5.45 p.m. until 10.30 a.m. on Friday, 26 March 1993.