The separate procedure for considering residency applications based solely on the parentage of an Irish born child ceased on the 19 February 2003, following the Supreme Court decision in the case of L and O in January 2003. At that date a total of 11,493 applications on this basis were outstanding. I therefore assume the Deputy is referring to such outstanding applications. Applications for asylum, which are dealt with by the office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner, are examined on a separate basis and criteria to these residency applications. With regard to outstanding claims to reside in the State on the basis of parentage of an Irish born child and future claims for leave to remain in the State from the non-national parents of Irish born children, the Government decided that every such case would be examined and decided individually. A notice to this effect was published on 18 July 2003.
The amendment to the Constitution following the June referendum has allowed the Oireachtas to deal with the issue of citizenship for children of non-national parents. The Irish Nationality and Citizenship Bill 2004 is currently before this House. Until that legislation is enacted, the situation on the ground is unchanged. Any person born in Ireland is still entitled to Irish citizenship. This continues to be an attraction to persons with no link to Ireland to seek to come to Ireland to acquire Irish and EU citizenship for their children. In these circumstances it is inappropriate for any change in procedures to be introduced in advance of the establishment of legislation as envisaged by the recent referendum.
Each case will be dealt with individually. I will make public my approach to the resolution of these issues in the near future.