Vol. 542 No. 2
435 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the legal provisions in relation to the residency rights and citizenship rights of persons who are non-nationals and parents of children born here; if there has been litigation in respect of these provisions; if so, the importance of such litigation; if these provisions are in accord with practice in other European countries; and if the Government plans to modify these provisions. [23678/01]
There are no specific statutory provisions regarding the rights of residence of the non-national parents of an Irish-born citizen child where residency rights are claimed on that basis. Furthermore, there are no statutory provisions which confer an entitlement to Irish citizenship on the non-national parents of such a child. The substantive case law in this area was set out in the decision of the Supreme Court in the Fajujonu case [1990] 2 I.R. 151. The Supreme Court found that an Irish citizen child had the right to the company of its non-national parents and that such parents had a strong claim to be allowed to reside in the State for that purpose. Section 6 of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act, 1956, as amended by the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act, 2001, provides that every person born in the island of Ireland is entitled to be an Irish citizen. This feature of Irish citizenship law is unique in the European Union, and unusual worldwide. In other EU member states the citizenship of a child born in that state is generally dependent on the citizenship of the parents and, or, the status and duration of residence of the parents in the state concerned. Applications for permission to remain on the basis of parentage of an Irish born citizen child are potentially open to abuse. For example, there have been a number of instances where applicants submitted false claims of parentage of an Irish citizen. Accordingly, my Department is keeping this issue under review.
