Following the decision of the Supreme Court on 23 January 2003 in the cases of L and O, which held that no automatic residency rights obtain in respect of non-national parents of Irish born children, the Government decided that the separate procedure which had then existed to enable persons to apply to reside in the State on the sole basis of parentage of an Irish born child would not apply to cases which were outstanding on 19 February 2003.
I would like to emphasise that the Government has stated that every outstanding claim to reside in the State on the basis of parentage of an Irish born child will be examined and decided individually in accordance with section 3(6) of the Immigration Act 1999 as amended and section 5 of the Refugee Act 1996. These cases are currently being processed in a unit which was set up for this purpose. In examining these cases, factors such as family and domestic circumstances and humanitarian considerations are taken into account.