Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 19 July 2012
31 Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will outline the position regarding an application for a passport in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Carlow; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36492/12]
View answerThe Passports Act 2008 provides, among other things, that only Irish citizens are entitled to be issued with Irish passports. Each application received by the Passport Service must, therefore, demonstrate that person's entitlement to Irish citizenship before a passport can issue. The Passport Service received an application from the person in question in April, 2011. At that stage, it could not be finalised until her entitlement to Irish citizenship was demonstrated.
As the applicant was born in Kilkenny on 26 December, 2010, her entitlement to Irish citizenship is subject to section 6A of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956, as amended (the Act). This provides that a person, born in the State on or after 1 January 2005, where neither parent is an Irish or British citizen or otherwise entitled to reside in the State or Northern Ireland without restriction at the time of that person's birth, may claim citizenship by birth in the State (and thereby establish eligibility for an Irish passport) only where a parent has been lawfully resident in the State for three of the four years immediately preceding that person's birth.
In line with guidelines provided by Department of Justice and Equality, which is the Department responsible for immigration and citizenship, the proofs of lawful residence, which are accepted and considered by this Department for passport applications, are immigration stamps in passports and/or the registration cards/books. These are issued to persons registering their lawful presence in the State with the Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB). In addition, the Department will accept letters from GNIB that state the various permission details which have been issued to a person. All of these are official documents/permits, which can be objectively verified by the Passport Service, if required.
The initial evidence provided in the submitted application related to the mother's residence in the State. This included an immigration stamp and a registration card, both of which were issued by GNIB. In addition to this, a letter from GNIB dated 11 April, 2011, stated the full record of the mother's lawfully registered presence in the State. This showed that she first registered with GNIB on 15 February, 2008. The period from that date to 25 December, 2010 was reckonable for the purposes of the Act. However, it is less than the statutory requirement of three years. The child's entitlement to Irish citizenship was, therefore, not demonstrated and as such her application for a passport could not be approved for passport issue. The child's parents were advised of this by the Passport Service on 25 May, 2011.
There has been further contact with the parents in the intervening period. Last February, the child's mother provided additional information, in particular, a letter from the Department of Justice, dated 3 December, 2007 which granted permission to her to remain in the State. This letter is important and may be relevant to the child's entitlement to Irish citizenship. However, as it is outside the standard items of evidence of lawful residence in the State, as advised by the Department of Justice and Equality, the Passport Service has been in contact with that Department for direction on the acceptability of this letter as evidence of lawful residence. Their clarification on this is pending. In the meantime, this application will remain open.
In the meantime, the parents have the option of pursuing directly the matter of their daughter's entitlement to Irish citizenship with the Department of Justice and Equality. In the event that they receive written confirmation that she is an Irish citizen under the Act, the Passport Service will be in a position to issue a passport.
