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GAZETTE

JULY/AUGUST 1988

Immigration to

Ireland

Emigration, rather than immi gra t i on, has been a feature of

Irish history since the middle of the last century and, w i t h

the exception of a brief period in the 1970s, net yearly

emigration of varying extent has occurred. However in recent

years there has been interest in immigration to Ireland among

persons w i th Irish roots living in potentially unstable

jurisdictions, such as South Af r i ca, who have had cause to

consider whether their Irish connection entitles t hem to Irish

citizenship, and hence right of establishment and movement

in the EEC. Furthermore there has been a general increase

in interest in immi gra t i on to Ireland, mainly because of

Ireland's position as an English speaking member of the EEC

and the country's close proximity to the United Kingdom. This

article wi ll consider, in broad terms, entitlement to Irish

citizenship and, then, immigration possibilities that may exist

for non-EEC nationals.

Irish Citizenship

The principal legislation governing

Irish c i t i zensh ip is the Irish

Nationality and Citizenship Acts

1956 and 1986 (the Acts) which

provide that Irish citizenship may

be acquired in five ways as follows:

A. Birth

Every person born in Ireland is an

Irish citizen from birth. The only

exception to this is where the

parents had diplomatic immunity at

the time of birth.

B. Descent

Every person born outside Ireland

is an Irish citizen if his or her father

or mother is an Irish citizen by birth.

Furthermore, anyone born outside

Ireland who at the time of his or her

birth has a parent who is an Irish

citizen otherwise than by birth may

by

Roderick Bourke,

So l i c i tor*

and

Fiona Daly BCL*

.MM

Fiona Daly

Roderick Bourke

become an Irish citizen through

registration at the Department of

Foreign Affairs or at an Irish

Embassy or Consulate. A person

born outside Ireland having an Irish

born grandparent is therefore

entitled to Irish citizenship through

registration.

Citizenship acquired through

registration as an Irish citizen is

acquired as from the date of

registration. Therefore if a person

entitled to register as an Irish

citizen wishes to pass on citizen-

ship to his or her child then that

person's citizenship must be

registered before the child's birth in

order for the child to have an

entitlement to Irish citizenship. A

limited form of retrospection that

existed in the 1956 Act has been

eliminated by the 1986 Act.

C. Marriage to an Irish Citizen

An alien may become an Irish

citizen if he or she marries a person

who is, or who after the marriage

becomes,

an

Irish

c i t i zen

(otherwise than by naturalisation or

by virtue of this provision or by

virtue of a token of Honorary

c i t i zensh ip bes t owed by the

President). The applicant should

lodge with the Irish Department of

Justice a "Post-Nuptual Form",

which is a Declaration of Accept-

ance of Irish Citizenship, not earlier

than three years from the date of

the marriage or, after the Irish

partner became Irish, whichever is

the later. The marriage must

genuinely subsist at the date of

lodgment and the couple must be

living together as a married couple

at that date.

D. Naturalisation

An alien may become an Irish

citizen by naturalisation. Naturali-

sation is granted at the discretion

of the Minister for Justice and will

almost always be granted if the

applicant has:

(i)

been in continuous legal

residence in Ireland for a

period of one year prior to the

application

and

(ii) in legal residence in Ireland for

four out of the previous eight

years prior to that year. The

applicant must be of good

character, full age and intend

in good faith to continue to

reside in the State after

na t u r a l i sa t i on has been

granted. The Minister may, in

certain cases specified by the

Acts, grant naturalisation

even where certain of the

conditions for naturalisation

have not been complied with

as e.g. where the applicant is

of Irish descent or association

or where he or she is a

refugee or a stateless person.

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