Vol. 467 No. 1
252 Cecilia Keaveney asked the Minister for Justice when a non-national married to an Irish citizen (details supplied) will qualify for Irish citizenship; and the other criteria, if any, necessary to qualify for citizenship. [12499/96]
The Irish Nationality and Citizenship Acts, 1956 and 1986, govern the granting of Irish citizenship to non-nationals. Section 8 of the Acts, as amended, stipulates that a non-national may, not earlier than three years from the date of marriage to an Irish citizen (who is an Irish citizen other than by naturalisation, marriage to an Irish citizen or through honorary citizenship), make a declaration accepting Irish citizenship as post-nuptial citizenship, provided that the marriage is subsisting at the date of lodgment of the declaration, and the couple are living together as husband and wife and the spouse who is an Irish citizen submits an affidavit to that effect when the declaration is being lodged.
If the persons referred to by the Deputy wish to obtain further information or application forms, they should contact the citizenship section of my Department.
