This Bill has been very fully explained in Dáil Eireann. An official memorandum explaining its provisions in general terms was published in the Press. For members of the Seanad who have followed the deliberations in the Dáil and for those who, possibly, have read the memorandum, it would be unnecessary for me to enter into any detail on the terms of the Bill. There may, however, be Senators who have not had an opportunity of doing that and perhaps it would be better for me to explain the general provisions of the Bill. The structure of the Bill is as follows. Section 2 deals with the classes that are to be regarded as natural-born citizens. We have a number of sections following on that, dealing with the acquisition and loss of citizenship by certificates of naturalisation and by their revocation. After that we have sections dealing with the effect of marriage. There are sections dealing with the facilities which are to be granted to the spouse of a party who is an Irish citizen on marriage. Then we have the section dealing with mutual citizenship rights and, finally, we have the section on repeals. Sandwiched in various parts you have provisions which might be classed generally as miscellaneous.
That is the structure of the Bill and we took as the starting point the group of persons who became citizens under Article 3. You will find that Article 3, in a sense, and the date of the coming of the Constitution, form certain data from which the Bill proceeds. I would remind the Seanad that Article 3 of the Constitution was of a restricted type. It purported to incorporate a certain class of people as citizens of the State on a certain day. The people who were entitled to be regarded as citizens after the 6th December, 1922, were those who could claim, in the first instance, domicile in this country—domicile was essential. Those who were domiciled in the country on that day and persons either of whose parents was born in the country or persons who had been seven years ordinarily resident in the country before that date were to be classed as citizens of the State. You will note at once that there was the restriction of domicile and people who were born in this country or whose parents were born in this country and who did not happen to be domiciled here were not included in the class of citizens under Article 3.
There was a further limitation under Article 3 which confined the effect of the Article to the limits of the jurisdiction of Saorstát Eireann, so that it could be in a sense regarded as definitely localised in its operation. Now we propose in a Bill which has been introduced, a Constitution Amendment Bill, to delete that local limitation and to make Article 3 operate universally.
The next thing is to extend, where necessary, Article 3 by taking cognisance of the class of persons who were either born in this country or either of whose parents was born in this country and who were not domiciled here. That comes under sub-section (4) of Section 4 of the Bill. It is a provision for dealing with that class of persons by making it easy to give them certificates of naturalisation. We have been reconsidering that, and I propose to introduce at a later stage a slight amendment of that provision which will take it out of the naturalisation sections and put it into the natural born sections. As regards people who were born in this country, or either of whose parents was born in this country and who did not happen to be domiciled here at the critical date, the 6th December, 1922, we propose, with certain restrictions which will be explained to the House when Senators have the proposal completely before them, that they shall be deemed natural born citizens either on their return here or on registration abroad. However, that is not in the Bill as it is before you, but it is a provision that we propose to insert. I mention it now because I am trying to lead Senators along from Article 3, which envisages a certain set of conditions, to the amendment of Article 3 as affected by this Bill and by the other Bill in the Dáil.
Now, having dealt with those classes of persons who may be entitled to be regarded as citizens before the 6th December, 1922, we go on to consider those who were born after that date: who were born in this country, or who were born of a father who is a citizen. We have laid it down as a principle, or rather I should say we are acting on the principle that those who were born on our soil, no matter what their parentage, should be regarded as natural born citizens of our State. Those then who were born in this country after the 6th December, 1922, will henceforth be regarded as natural born citizens of the State: that is those born within our own territory. In addition to them, we have those who may be born on an Irish ship and, finally, we have those who were born outside our territory of a father who was a citizen. The children of such a father will be natural born citizens, when this Act is passed, automatically, if the father was a citizen in virtue of Article 3 of the Constitution. If the father was a citizen who was himself born in our territory, or if he was naturalised, then his child also becomes automatically a citizen, but if a father was not born in this country, the child has to be registered in a special book kept in those countries where we have Legations or High Commissioners, or if born in countries where we have not such Legations, then in a book which is to be kept in the Department of External Affairs. One of these books is referred to in the Bill as "The Foreign Births Entry Book," and the other one that is to be kept at headquarters, is called "The Foreign Births Register."
I think that, in the main, covers the sections dealing with natural born citizens. As I have indicated it is going to be amended somewhat. There are a few minor provisions with regard to the necessity for a child, on his becoming a citizen on registration abroad, and on attaining the age of majority, to make a declaration of retention of citizenship. There are also two minor provisions in sub-section (4) of Section 2, paragraphs (a) and (b), dealing with the cases of children of diplomatic and consular representatives that may be born here, but I do not think I need deal with that until we come to the Committee Stage.
The next series of sections has to deal with the issue of certificates of naturalisation. The principle running through these is that the Minister for Justice may, at his discretion, grant certificates of naturalisation to applicants who fulfil certain conditions. Senators will note that the person to decide is the Minister for Justice. We had a discussion on that in the Dáil, as to whether this should not be operated by the Courts rather than by the Minister. The Government attitude is that it is advisable that it should be operated by the Minister—by the executive authority as is done in a number of other countries. The Minister in prescribing forms, and so on, is entitled to ask for such information as he may deem necessary in order to satisfy himself that a certificate should be given to an applicant. There are certain conditions laid down which must be satisfied before the Minister is entitled to grant a certificate. The person, for instance, must be of good character; he must have resided continuously in Saorstát Eireann for a total period of five years: one year immediately before the application is sent in and for a further period of four years in the previous eight—that is a period of five years within nine years previous to the making of the application. The applicant must intend to reside in this country, and have his ordinary residence here. As I indicated he must apply on the prescribed form. There is a special provision here to enable the Minister to dispense in certain cases with the residence qualification.
In the case of a widow, it will be seen in the marriage provision that an Irish woman marrying an alien and proposing to reside outside the country will, if she has not indicated her desire to remain a citizen, forfeit her citizenship within a certain time, the time being a year, if she has, by the law of some other country, come to be deemed to be a citizen of that country, and acquires the nationality of another country on her marriage to an alien. One of the principles running through the Bill is that we are anxious to implement, as far as we can, the general intention indicated at the Hague Convention dealing with conflicting nationality laws, so that each person, as far as our law can effect it, shall belong to one State, and in particular shall not be Stateless. In the case of a woman, if that should result in forfeiture of citizenship by anyone who indicated an intention or desire to retain citizenship, it shall not operate, if the woman should thereby become Stateless. We have also a provision to dispense in certain other cases with residence qualification. In the case I mentioned about women, if a widow returns to this country she shall be deemed to have resumed her citizenship. The other special cases where residence qualification is dispensed with are those in which the Executive Council is satisfied that the person in question, or the father or grandfather of such person, has rendered distinguished services to the country. In Section 6 there is a provision for the issue of a certificate of citizenship to remove doubts. In all probability we shall have some detailed discussion on that on the Committee Stage.
There is an important provision in Section 7 for the issue of a certificate of naturalisation to a minor. The House will note that there is a special provision at the top of page 6 of the Bill pointing out that it is to be issued only on the application of the parent. That also has special reference to a person of Irish descent or of Irish association. I have in the main indicated the cases in which the certificate of naturalisation may be issued. We have a section dealing with the revocation of such certificate. It is hardly necessary to deal in detail at this stage with the cases where a certificate may be revoked, if it is wrongfully obtained; if the person ceases residence for a considerable period of time, or to have any material associations with the country. We come then to Section 15 dealing with marriage provisions. Marriage by itself does not affect citizenship but we desire to make it easy for members of one family to be citizens of the same State, of the same legal community. We make it possible in the first case for an alien coming here and marrying an Irish woman, or an alien woman coming and residing here and marrying an Irishman rapidly to secure membership of our legal community. On the other hand, for an Irish spouse marrying an alien residing abroad, the Irish spouse can remain Irish by a positive act indicating that desire. If no such desire is indicated there is a provision for loss of Irish nationality. We make the exception which I indicated, that it does not operate so as to render the person Stateless. There are some following provisions dealing with the effect of death or a change of citizenship on one of the married couple. These are consequential on the working out of the general principles incorporated in the marriage provisions.
The next important set of provisions are those dealing with mutual citizenship rights between Saorstát Eireann and other countries, beginning at Section 23. The idea there is that if our State concludes a convention with another State, by means of which our citizens are given rights in that other State, which are normally confined to its citizens, in return we agree to give corresponding rights in our country to the citizens of that other State. This Bill will automatically give effect to that once a convention is made, so that these reciprocal rights shall be recognised in our country with certain important exceptions. Secondly, where by the law of a country, without an express convention dealing with the matter, our citizens enjoy certain privileges and rights normally-confined to the citizens of that country, we shall give to the citizens of such country similar rights here. But in order to give effect to that an order of the Executive Council setting forth the rights and privileges to be enjoyed has to be made. Of course, any such order can be revoked when the circumstances which necessitated the issue of the order shall disappear. There are certain safeguards, and these are set forth in Section 23, beginning at sub-section (5) which sets forth three cases to which that right shall not extend; first of all in (a), where the Oireachtas by Act conferred certain privileges on a certain group or class, then, unless the citizens of the foreign State enjoy reciprocal rights here, the fact that they are citizens shall not operate to include them in that class, as against the provisions of the special Act of the Oireachtas.
There is a provision here also by which in the case of a woman, if she has not become a citizen, she may not by virtue of the fact that she may be deemed to be a citizen of another country through marriage with one of our nationals, require us to give her these reciprocal rights. There is also a special provision which provides that nothing in the section shall operate
to entitle any person to become or be the owner of a ship or of a share in a ship registered in Saorstát Eireann and having the status of a ship registered under the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894, unless such person is a citizen of a country between which and Saorstát Eireann or between the Government of which and the Government of Saorstát Eireann a convention exists and is in force by virtue of which citizens of such country are entitled to own any such ship or a share in any such ship as aforesaid.
There is a convention in existence by which certain privileges are accorded to Irish ships on certain conditions, and these conditions would preclude the giving to any such class as this general class, a class of persons or citizens of the State who were not included in the convention of reciprocal rights. With these exceptions, then, the general provision is that citizens here of other countries may be accorded rights similar to the rights which our citizens enjoy in these countries.
Finally, we have Section 30 which deals with repeals. The purpose here is to end the position in which, by Irish law, a person born here could be regarded as a British subject. If this Bill becomes law, Section 30 is designed to operate to end the position in which, by Irish law, an Irish-born person shall be deemed a British subject. The sub-section of the section is designed to deal with the operation of the common law in regard to British nationality so far as it is, either wholly or in part, deemed to be in force here. Senators will note that the words here are "in so far as it may be deemed to be operative" and so on, in all this section. That is because we did not find it necessary to decide a controversy on that particular matter. It is the right of the Legislature to resolve any legal doubts there may be and whatever little merit there might be on one side of the controversy, once we have the opportunity and know what is the difference of opinion on the matter, no matter what our opinion might be as to the weight of the opinion on either side, we can use our privilege here as a Legislature to end the dispute and to end the doubt. Section 30 is designed to do that and I think it is sufficiently explicit to do it.
The other sections of the Bill are of a more or less formal character with regard to fees, forms, entry books and so on, and I do not think it is necessary at this stage to bring these matters before the Seanad. I have not dealt with the necessity for this Bill, with its urgency or anything of that kind. I think that will be obvious to the members of the Seanad without any speech on the matter, even if they have not read the discussions in the Dáil. It is clearly right that the class of persons who could be regarded as our citizens should be as clearly defined as possible, both for internal affairs, municipal law, and also because of our international relations. If we are to have treaties with other countries and these treaties refer to rights of our citizens, it is obvious that whether a patricular person is or is not a citizen should be readily ascertainable. I think then that, at this stage, it is not necessary for me to say any more, except to commend it to the Seanad as a Bill which is already long over-due.