Deputy Pat McCartan gave me notice of his intention to raise the matter of the case of a person adopted by an Irish citizen who is a refugee from Vietnam and who has been refused Irish citizenship by the Minister for Justice.
Adjournment Debate. - Citizenship Application.
Thank you very much, a Cheann Comhairle, for the opportunity of raising this matter this evening. I am particularly pleased that other Deputies who have made representations to the Minister in this matter heretofore are anxious to contribute and I would like to share my time with Deputy Mary Coughlan and Deputy Michael Ferris.
Is that satisfactory? Agreed.
I acknowledge the presence of the Minister of State, Deputy Aylward, from whose constituency the father of the man in qustion hails. The father, Martin Gary Padgett, is an Irish citizen living in Ontario in Canada. He hails originally from Mooncoin and his forebearers come from Clogga, County Kilkenny. Mr Padgett assumed Irish citizenship based on his lineage——
I wonder whether it is necessary to give names and addresses. I deem it sufficient that the Deputy has supplied the details to the Department and the Minister.
I am happy to proceed on that basis. The father of the adopted child is an Irish citizen by lineage. He has lived his life in Canada where he works in an organisation known as United Way/Centraide, a charitable organisation which supports AIDS victims. He has been active on a voluntary basis helping south east Asian nationals settle in Canada and it was in the context of that work that he adopted a young man, born in 1967, as his son under Canadian law.
I first became aware of this case when dealing in 1991 with the Foreign Adoptions Bill. Every effort was made by those of us on the Special Committee to see whether this gentleman and his son could be accommodated under that legislation. That was not possible but nonetheless we had great confidence that the position would be resolved on the basis of an application for naturalisation of citizenship. As the father so graphically put it, what he wants to do as an Irish citizen is pass on his citizenship to his son. In furtherance of that desire, having visited Ireland and met with the Department officials in March 1991, he submitted a very detailed application for naturalisation of citizenship. He asked the Minister to exercise his discretion under section 5 of the Nationality and Citizenship Act, 1986, and in July of last year I wrote to the Minister in support of that application. I regret that the Minister initially did not see his way to agreeing to the application. I am asking the Minister of State this evening to have the case re-investigated to see if the Minister can exercise his discretion in favour of this application.
Having been a member of the committee dealing with adoption I am familiar with this case. I concur with my colleagues and ask that the Minister re-investigate the matter. I do not wish to pre-empt what the Minister has to say but I would just add my voice in the hope that the matter will be re-investigated and discretion used.
I will also be very brief. I support fully the case put professionally by Deputy McCartan. We attempted to amend the Foreign Adoptions Bill to facilitate this child because the circumstances were unusual and certainly merited our support. Unfortunately, the matter was outside the terms of the Bill, particularly regarding the age of the child. At that time this country was supportive of Vietnamese refugees and extended hospitality to them. I felt, as did Deputy McCartan, that this was a special case because of the history of these people who had to leave their homeland.
I would ask the Minister, who responded positively to this matter during discussion on the legislation but said it was outside the terms of the legislation, to consider the possibility of citizenship, particularly through the naturalisation process. It is not unusual to do that. This man is Irish and he wants his son to be Irish. He deserves that break and I have no doubt that the Minister, who has many ideas about what he wants to do in his Department, could facilitate us in this very special case in which so many Deputies have been involved directly with the father of the child.
The Irish Nationality and Citizenship Acts, 1956 and 1986, set out certain conditions to be complied with by applicants for naturalisation. These conditions include such requirements as that the applicant should have a period of one year's continuous residence in the State immediately before the date of his application and, during the eight years immediately preceding that period, have had a total residence in the State amounting to four years and that he intends in good faith to continue to reside in the State after naturalisation.
If the Minister for Justice is satisfied that an applicant complies with the statutory conditions he may, in his absolute discretion, grant the application. The Minister also has discretion to waive any or all of the statutory conditions for naturalistion in certain prescribed circumstances, including where an applicant is of Irish descent or has Irish associations.
The applicant in the case referred to by the Deputy is a 25 year old Vietnamese who was resident in Canada since 1985 and became a naturalised Canadian citizen in February 1990. He was subsequently adopted in Canada by a person who is a Canadian citizen, resident in Canada, and who is also an Irish citizen by descent and was registered in the foreign births register in February 1990.
An application for naturalisation on behalf of the person referred to by the Deputy was considered by the Minister and refused. He is satisfied that the decision he made in this case was the correct one. It has been the policy of successive Ministers for Justice not to disclose the reasons for decisions taken in particular cases in regard to applications for naturalisation. This practice has been upheld by the High Court and he does not proposed to depart from it in this instance.
However, in view of the interest in the case by Deputies McCartan, Ferris and Coughlan and the Minister of State at the Department of Education, Deputy Aylward, who has made many representations in regard to this matter, I propose to have the case re-examined by my Department. I will communicate directly with the Deputies when the examination has concluded.
I thank the Minister of State.