Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 16 June 2026
229. Deputy Michael Cahill asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade to urgently intervene in a passport application for a child (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45700/26]
View answerAll passport applications are subject to the terms of the Passports Act, 2008, as amended (“the 2008 Act”). Section 7(1)(a) of that Act provides that a person must be an Irish citizen in order for a passport to be issued. Accordingly, every applicant for a passport must submit evidence that they are an Irish citizen and, as such, are entitled to a passport. Section 12(1)(a) of the 2008 Act states that the Minister shall refuse to issue a passport to a person if the Minister is not satisfied that the person is an Irish citizen.
Entitlement to Irish citizenship is determined by the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956 ("the 1956 Act"), as amended, under which Irish citizenship may be obtained by birth, by descent, or by naturalisation. The 1956 Act is under the remit of the Department of Justice, Home Affairs, and Migration.
In order to protect the integrity of the Irish passport, first time passport applications for children require careful consideration, having regard to the individual circumstances of each application and the applicable legislation, in order to determine the child’s entitlement to a passport.
Since 2022, the Passport Service has operated a document management system whereby incomplete applications that require further supporting documents are prioritised once the additional documents are received by the Passport Service. These applications are then processed within 15 working days.
With regard to the specific application about which the Deputy has enquired, additional supporting documents were requested by the Passport Service on 29/05/2026 and received by the Passport Service on 09/06/2026. Therefore, this application is within the turnaround time and has not yet reached its issue by date.
