Vol. 414 No. 10
47 Mr. J. O'Keeffe asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will outline the number of residents of the Republic of South Africa in the last ten years who (1) applied for Irish citizenship, (2) were granted this, (3) were refused and (4) are awaiting a decision.
Eligible non-residents of the State may obtain Irish citizenship (a) by having details of their births entered in the foreign births register held in my Department or in the foreign births entry book held in one of our diplomatic or consular missions or (b) by lodging a declaration of post nuptial citizenship in the prescribed manner with one of our diplomatic or consular missions. The latter system is administered jointly with the Department of Justice.
In the time available, and because of the way in which data was complied in the past, it is not possible to supply the full information sought by the Deputy under points (1) to (3) of his question. However, I can inform the Deputy that from 1 January 1985 to date, a total of 6,293 residents of the Republic of South Africa successfully applied for registration in the foreign births register. From 1 January 1989 to date, a total of 579 applications for post-nuptial citizenship were received from citizens of South Africa, of which 454 have been granted and the remainder are awaiting decision.
