Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 17 September 2014
1192. Deputy Ruth Coppinger asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the number of passport applications for children of non-EEA-EU-Swiss parents rejected in the years 2007 to date in 2014 as the reckonable residency of their parents was not sufficient. [33577/14]
View answerThe number of applications for children, born since 1 January, 2005, which were rejected and referred back to the applicant or those which were cancelled under the Passports Act, 2008 on the grounds that they were not Irish citizens, is as follows:
|
Year |
Rejected back to the applicant |
Cancelled |
|
2007 |
786 |
276 |
|
2008 |
935 |
516 |
|
2009 |
1,031 |
622 |
|
2010 |
970 |
448 |
|
2011 |
1,155 |
586 |
|
2012 |
1,208 |
600 |
|
2013 |
1,081 |
504 |
|
2014 |
840 |
157 |
|
Total |
8,006 |
3,709 |
The preceding table shows that 8,006 applications were referred back to the applicant for additional evidence of citizenship. The Department does not keep records that would break down this amount to children with non-EU/EEA/Swiss parents, who had not sufficient residence to meet the requirements of Section 6A of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act, 1956 as amended.
Of the total referred back to the applicants and their parents, 3,709 were eventually cancelled usually because
(i) no reply was received;
(ii) the application was out of date; or
(iii) additional information was received but was insufficient to progress the application to passport issue under the Passports Act, 2008.
From the figures above, a balance of 4,297 applications remain to be finalised. Those applications, which were submitted in 2014, may yet result in passport issue. However, as the validity of a passport application is for six months, those pre-2014 applications are now out of date and will be cancelled.
