Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 24 March 2011
76 Deputy Denis Naughten asked the Minister for Justice and Law Reform the implications for Ireland of the Court of Justice of the European Union judgments of 8 March 2011 (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5636/11]
Amharc ar fhreagraI refer the Deputy to my public statement on this matter issued on Monday 21 March 2011 and which I trust addresses the implications referred to in his question. For the information of the House I have appended the text of that statement.
"Statement by Minister for Justice, Equality and Defence, Mr Alan Shatter, TD, on the implications of the recent ruling of the Court of Justice of the European Union in the case of Ruiz Zambrano.
Background
The Zambrano case was referred to the ECJ by a Belgian tribunal. Ireland along with a number of other Member States intervened in the proceedings. In summary, the Court ruled that Article 20 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union precludes a Member State from refusing a third country national upon whom his minor children, who are EU citizens, are dependent, a right of residence in the Member State of residence and nationality of those children, and from refusing to grant a work permit to that third country national, in so far as such decisions deprive those children of the genuine enjoyment of the substance of the rights attaching to the status of European Union citizen.
Ireland's Approach to Implementing the Judgement
First it is important to state that this judgement applies only where the child is a citizen. It has no implications whatever for Irish Citizenship law. The granting of citizenship remains a matter entirely for the Oireachtas under the Constitution.
Given the importance of the ruling in the Zambrano case, I have decided, with the support of my Government colleagues, to make a brief public statement outlining the consideration being given to cases involving Irish minor dependant citizen children who have a non-national third country parent or parents.
One possible approach in these matters is to wait for pending cases to be determined by the Irish Courts and for the Courts to interpret and apply the Court of Justice ruling. That is an entirely justifiable approach from a legal standpoint. However in this case the Government has agreed that there needs to be a more proactive approach and that it should make a clear statement of its intention to take early action in these cases, insofar as it is unnecessary to await rulings of the Courts. We should not tie up the courts unnecessarily or ask eligible families to wait longer than necessary.
Accordingly I have asked my officials to carry out an urgent examination of all cases before the courts (approximately 120 at present) involving Irish citizen children to which the Zambrano judgment may be relevant.
The Government has agreed with my proposal that early decisions in appropriate cases to which the Zambrano judgement applies be made without waiting for further rulings of the Courts.
I have also asked my officials to examine the cases in the Department in which the possibility of deportation is being considered in order to ascertain the number of cases in which there is an Irish citizen child and to which the Zambrano judgment is relevant. In addition, consideration will be given to those cases of Irish Citizen children who have left the State whose parents were refused permission to remain.
This initiative is being taken in the best interests of the welfare of eligible minor Irish citizen children and to ensure that the taxpayer is not exposed to any unnecessary additional legal costs."
