Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 6 May 2026
630. Deputy Matt Carthy asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the citizenship status of children born in Ireland to parents who are living in the State under the Temporary Protection Directive; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32241/26]
View answerBeneficiaries of Temporary Protection hold a temporary permission to remain in Ireland, renewable annually for as long as the Directive remains in force. Any child born in the State to parents residing here under the Temporary Protection Directive is not automatically entitled to Irish citizenship. In line with the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 2004, citizenship at birth depends on the status of the parents.
In such cases, a child will generally be eligible to acquire the citizenship of one or both parents by descent, in accordance with the nationality laws of the relevant country or countries.
I can advise the Deputy that it is the existing policy that time spent in the State on permissions that are inherently transitionary or intended to be temporary in nature are not reckonable for the purpose of naturalisation.
To provide legislative clarity for this position, Minister O'Callaghan and I intend to bring forward amendments to the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956 to explicitly exclude time spent under Temporary Protection from the residency accrual provisions of the Act. This will require legislative change, full scrutiny of which will take place through the regular parliamentary process.
The impact of the exclusion of time spent under Temporary Protection from the calculation of reckonable residence will be carefully considered as part of the ongoing work across Government on approaches to managing the exit from Temporary Protection.
The Government has agreed to opt in to an EU proposal for a Recommendation related to a coordinated exit from Temporary Protection. While not binding, this recommendation outlines a series of measures to pave the way for a smooth and coordinated approach to transitioning out of Temporary Protection for displaced people from Ukraine. It also acknowledges the inherently temporary nature of temporary protection and that it therefore must eventually end.
