I can advise the Deputy that, as the parent of an Irish citizen child, a person may apply for permission to reside in the State under the Irish Citizen Child scheme, which gives effect to the principles arising from the Zambrano judgment.
The applicant concerned applied for permission to remain in the State pursuant to the Chen/Teixeira/Ibrahim judgments. These judgments apply in circumstances where an EU citizen child has exercised free movement rights by residing in a Member State other than that of their nationality and is accompanied by their primary carer.
As the application in question was based on a child who is an Irish citizen residing in Ireland, no exercise of EU free movement rights had occurred. Accordingly, the Chen/Teixeira/Ibrahim judgments were not applicable to the circumstances of the case.
The application was considered on that basis and was refused at first instance. Following review, the refusal decision was upheld. The decision letter issued to the applicant on 20 July 2026 set out the reasons for the refusal.
The person concerned has been advised that, as the parent of an Irish citizen child, it is open to them to apply for permission to reside in the State under the Irish Citizen Child scheme. To date, no such application has been received by my Department.
More information is available on the Immigration Service Delivery web site at:
www.irishimmigration.ie/my-situation-has-changed-since-i-arrived-in-ireland/the-parent-of-an-irish-citizen-child/
As an Oireachtas member, you can also request the status of individual immigration cases by e-mail, using the Oireachtas Mail facility at: IMoireachtasmail@justice.ie, which has been specifically established for this purpose. This service enables up to date information on such cases to be obtained without the need to seek information by way of the Parliamentary Question process.
