I thank the Ceann Comhairle for permitting me to raise this issue. This case concerns a woman who is seeking Irish citizenship. She was born in England in December 1934, had no Irish parents or grandparents and, therefore, did not have an automatic entitlement to citizenship. She married in June 1967. Her husband was born in February 1916 and was entitled to become, and became, an Irish citizen. Unfortunately, he is now seriously ill.
At the time of their marriage the legislation governing nationality and citizenship was the Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956 which stated "a woman who is an alien at the date of her marriage to a person who is an Irish citizen (otherwise than by naturalisation) shall not become an Irish citizen merely by virtue of her marriage, but may do so by lodging a declaration in the prescribed manner with the Minister or with any Irish diplomatic mission or consular office, either before the marriage, or if lodged thereafter, then from the date of the lodgement."
This means that although the woman concerned had an entitlement to acquire Irish citizenship on the basis of her marriage, it would have been necessary for her to take the formal step of making a declaration to exercise that entitlement. As part of this process, her husband would have had to swear an affidavit to support the declaration. Unfortunately, her husband suffers from Alzheimer's and is not in a position to swear the affidavit.
The woman has been informed by the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform that the only option open to her is to apply for a certificate of naturalisation for which there is a fee of €634.87. The woman's means are limited and it would cause financial difficulty for her to pay this sum. She asked the Minister to waive the fee but he stated he did not have discretion in the matter. This is one of the problems which occasionally arise in the administration of our affairs and where a degree of common sense needs to be applied. There seems to be no doubt but that the woman is entitled to citizenship. If the declaration could be made, she would get it automatically. I understand the Department's position is that if she pays the fee for a certificate of naturalisation, her case will be processed quite quickly.
We should look at this case in context. This is a country where in recent years people have arrived with lots of money and have, in effect, been able to buy citizenship. If one had a few million euro which one could put into a company or in an investment scheme, one could, effectively, buy citizenship. As we know, some of the citizenships and passports were purchased in rather doubtful circumstances.
However, this case involves a woman who is married to an Irish citizen, who has lived here most of her life, has contributed to Irish life and community and whose husband, who is now ill, contributed over his working life to the State. She is effectively being denied citizenship by a particularly rigid interpretation of the rules. I understand the difficulties civil servants have in administering the rules made and the legislation passed by this House. Will the Minister exercise some discretion in this area?
I suggest either of two ways to deal with this. One is to waive the fee for the certificate of naturalisation, which the Minister said he cannot do. The other is to accept medical certification in respect of the woman's husband explaining that he is not in a position to swear the affidavit required to make the declaration and on that basis to admit the application. There is no dispute about the facts of this particular case. On the basis of pure morality, the woman is entitled to, and should get, citizenship. It is unfair to her and, indeed, to her husband who is not in a position to deal with it to have it blocked on this technicality.
I would like the Minister of State, Deputy Conor Lenihan, to respond positively. I appreciate he has a script from the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform which may well tell me what I already know but I ask him to ask the Minister and the Department to exercise a little common sense and to give this woman what she is perfectly entitled to, namely, an Irish passport and citizenship based on her marriage.
