Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 27 April 2004
299 Mr. P. Breen asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the procedure for children and grandchildren of Irish citizens residing in South Africa who wish to apply for an Irish passport; if his attention has been drawn to delays in the processing of these applications in the Irish embassy in Pretoria; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11391/04]
View answerThe procedures for citizenship and passport applications for residents in South Africa are the same as for applicants elsewhere. Only Irish citizens may be issued with Irish passports. A person who was born abroad, one of whose parents was born in Ireland, is automatically an Irish citizen from birth. A person in South Africa who wishes to become an Irish citizen by descent from a parent who, although not born in Ireland, was an Irish citizen at the time of the person's birth, must first apply to the Irish embassy in Pretoria for Irish citizenship through entry in the foreign births register. Each applicant for foreign births registration is required to produce sufficient documentation including birth and marriage certificates and other relevant records for himself and his parent and grandparent, if relevant, through whom citizenship is claimed to confirm the applicant's entitlement to Irish citizenship. When that entitlement is established, the details are entered in the foreign births entry book in the embassy and a certificate confirming the details of the entry is issued. This certificate must be produced with any subsequent passport application.
In recent years, the volume of consular work handled by the embassy in South Africa, which is also accredited to a number of other countries, including Zimbabwe, on a non-resident basis, has increased very considerably. As a result, there have been delays in the processing by the embassy of applications for foreign birth registration and consequent delays in issuing passports to those people. Last year, this backlog was reduced considerably. The embassy is currently taking about three months to process applications for foreign birth registration when full documentation is presented and is seeking to reduce this period further while facilitating urgent cases. If there are ongoing problems in particular cases concerning residents in South Africa, the ambassador and his staff are always available to assist applicants.
