The Bill providing for Irish citizenship for children born in Ireland to non-nationals will be introduced when the Dáil resumes, according to the Minister for Justice. Carol Coulter, Legal Affairs Correspondent, reports.
The Bill provides that such children can become citizens if one parent has resided legally in the State for more than three years.
It will contain amendments to the draft version published before the Citizenship Referendum, based on discussions with the SDLP and a submission from the Human Rights Commission, Mr McDowell told The Irish Times.
Before the referendum the leader of the SDLP, Mr Mark Durkan, said he would vote No if he had a vote in the Republic. This arose from a number of concerns about the proposed constitutional amendment and the Bill, and a lack of response to these concerns from the Government until the eve of the referendum.
The SDLP had been heavily involved in negotiating the section of the Belfast Agreement that proposed a new Article 2 for the Irish Constitution guaranteeing Irish citizenship to all those born on the island of Ireland. Claims of abuse by non-nationals of this provision led to the proposal of the citizenship amendment.
The SDLP was deeply concerned that the referendum undermined the idea that the agreement was sacrosanct. It was also concerned that it would introduce differences between the rights to citizenship of those born in the Republic and those born in Northern Ireland.
The SDLP met the Department of Justice two weeks ago to discuss the inclusion in the Bill of measures to ensure that there would be no distinction between the treatment of children born on the island of Ireland in the North and those born in the South.
Because there are two jurisdictions, there were concerns that there could be discrepancies in how parents might prove three years' lawful residency. According to SDLP sources, these fears were allayed at the meeting.
The Human Rights Commission sent its observations on the Bill to Mr McDowell last week.
It stressed that Ireland's obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child meant that the best interests of the child must be a primary consideration in framing legislation.
It points out that the issue of proof of paternity would assume a new importance following the enactment of the new Bill, as this could determine a child's entitlement to Irish citizenship. It recommended that there should be a review of the effectiveness of existing provisions in Irish law to prove paternity.
It also said that special provision should be made for consideration of the periods of residency in Ireland of those who had been waiting for decisions on asylum applications for a very long time, due to administrative delays on the part of the State.
It recommended that consideration should be given to a special naturalisation procedure for children born in the State.