Vol. 529 No. 1
1059 Mr. Deasy asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if, in cases where Irish citizens marry a citizen of a non-EU country, the waiting period for that person to assume Irish citizenship is to be reduced from the present three years and one day; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1909/01]
The Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act, 1956, as amended in 1986, provides that, inter alia, a non-national, whether a national of an EU State or otherwise, who is married to an Irish citizen may make a declaration accepting Irish citizenship as post nuptial citizenship no earlier than three years from the date of marriage to the Irish citizen or from the date on which the Irish spouse became an Irish citizen.
The Irish Nationality and Citizenship Bill, 1999, which is currently at Report Stage in the House having been passed by the Seanad, provides, at sections 4 and 5, for the termination of the present system of post nuptial citizenship, but with a three year transition period for those already married to Irish citizens before the passing of the Bill, and its replacement by a naturalisation procedure. This special naturalisation procedure for spouses of Irish citizens is in broad terms to be similar to the naturalisation provisions at the present section 15 of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act, 1956, and will exist in parallel with it. The principal difference proposed is that in relation to the residence requirement, the period for the spouse of an Irish citizen will be at a discount relative to the normal requirement, in total, three out of the previous five years for a spouse, as against the normal requirement of five years out of the previous nine.
