The Irish authorities have been accused of lacking respect for the Muslim community by asking Muslim citizens of countries which do not permit more than one wife to provide affidavits stating their intention not to marry a second wife.
The question on official naturalisation documents shows a lack of respect for the Muslim community which lives here and obeys the law, according to Ms Aisling Reidy, director of the Irish Council for Civil Liberties.
Ms Reidy said that letters from the naturalisation division of the Department of Justice to applicants for naturalisation began: "Because you are of the Muslim faith . . ." before seeking an affidavit that the applicant did not have, and did not intend to have, a second wife. These went to people who were citizens of countries like the UK, South Africa, or Turkey, where second simultaneous marriages were not legal, she said. Irish law explicitly outlaws bigamy, so the question should not arise, she said.
Family law expert, Mr Geoffrey Shannon, agreed. "If both spouses are unmarried at the time of the marriage and meet other requirements, the marriage should be recognised," he said. "The proposal from the Department is not necessary and not proportionate. It could be tantamount to discrimination on religious grounds."
However, the Department of Justice pointed to a recent case as justification for its stance on seeking such a declaration from members of the Muslim faith.
In it a Pakistani national sought Irish citizenship for his child with his second, Pakistani, wife, whom he had married while married to an Irish wife. He had married the Irish wife in Dublin in 1984. Some months later he went to Pakistan and married another woman. He returned to Ireland and acquired Irish citizenship through the post-nuptial declaration procedure in 1987. The Department was unaware of the second marriage.