Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 17 July 2014
48. Deputy Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the status of a revocation of a passport and legal challenge for a person (details supplied) in County Cavan; the reason the passport is being revoked; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32615/14]
View answerAll applications for passports are subject to the provisions of the Passports Act, 2008. Under this act a person must be an Irish citizen before the Department can lawfully issue a passport to that person. As the applicant was born in Dublin on 19 October, 2007 to parents, who are citizens of India, his entitlement to Irish citizenship is subject to section 6A(1) of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956. This provides that a person born in the State 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, may claim citizenship by birth in the State only where a parent has been lawfully resident in the State for 3 of the 4 years preceding his/her birth. Additionally section 6B(4)(b) of the 1956 Act specifically rules out certain residence as reckonable for this purpose. The person in question was first issued a passport in 2007. This was subsequently renewed in 2010 and 2013. However, the Passport Service recently had cause to review the application for the issued passport and determined that the period of the parent’s residence in Ireland was insufficient to entitle the applicant to Irish citizenship. Therefore, as the person concerned was not an Irish citizen, the Department has informed the applicant’s parents that the issued passport would be revoked and invalidated.
