More Irish than the Irish themselves
Around the time of the citizenship referendum I warned of the unforeseen consequences of messing around with something as fundamental as citizenship. Sarah Carey writing in this week’s Sunday Times describes how she became victim to one of these unforeseen consequences when she tried to get a passport for her baby:
I queued for the birth certificate, wrote the cheque, sent the application off, sat back and waited. Then the phone rang. On a Saturday. A very nice lady from the Passport Office said she was terribly sorry but my son had not established his entitlement to Irish citizenship.
I was perplexed. Of course he was Irish, he was born here. Wasn’t that enough? Not any more. Since January 1 the citizenship referendum we approved last June has taken effect. It means that people born in Ireland aren’t automatically Irish anymore. Now you have to establish that you’re Irish through your parents.
“But I thought that was only for foreigners,” I told the lady. “That’s what everyone thought,” she agreed. “No one realised it would affect Irish babies too.”
So far, so predictable. This is a consequence I had foreseen. But then it gets interesting:
An English couple living in Dublin for nearly 15 years sent off a passport application for their child, knowing there would be an issue, but at a loss as to how to resolve it given the absence of any reference on the form to the new law. They presumed they would need to provide proof of residency.
Duly, they received the phone call from the passport office. But it turns out their son is entitled to Irish citizenship . . . because they are British. Apparently, if one parent is British — irrespective of whether they are from Norwich or Northern Ireland — the child is entitled to Irish citizenship.
Brilliant. Our incompetent lawmakers have made the citizens of perfidious Albion more Irish then the natives.
So it’s true. Supporters of the referendum aren’t racist at all. The refererendum was a magnanimous gesture to the ‘auld enemy’. Let bygones be bygones. Forgive and forget. No more talk of 800 years of oppression. Ye’re one of us now.
Either that or we’re sinking to new depths in our search for a half-decent international soccer team.
Mark Waters marked time at 10:15 am on May 31st, 2005 .
“Brilliant. Our incompetent lawmakers have made the citizens of perfidious Albion more Irish then the natives.”
Presumably, the same onus will be on the British parent or parents to establish their child’s right to Irish citizenship in the way that Irish parents will now have to - i.e. - it’s not any more automatic for Irish-born babies of British parent(s) than for Irish-born babies of Irish parent(s).
The particular incompetency as far as I’m concerned is the lack of updated forms.
For me the real issue that this case highlights is the power of the clause “unless provided for by law” which reduces Irish citizenship to something that is decided at the whim of a government.
What exactly is the problem. The only problem I see is that the forms haven’t been updated. Personally I have a valuation on being Irish so I don’t really have a problem having the huge inconvienence of getting my birth cert., when I register my child.
Dave, it’s not about the inconvenience or the bureaucracy, it’s about the fact that the definition of Irish citizenship was changed by a law passed by the Dail in December 2004 without them having to consult the people. I’d say very few of us would have been aware of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 2004 and what was in it.
The point is that the citizenship referendum gave the government a freehand to define Irish citizenship without having to consult the people. I would say that dilutes the value of the citizenship that we both take pride in having.
Mark,
What would, and has in the past, diluted the value of Irish citizenship is the sale of Irish passports. What matters to me is that there is a clear set of rules regarding who is entitled to Irish citizenship and under what conditions, be it being born here, being born to parents resident here for X number of years, or being born to an Irish or British parent, or being resident here long enough to become naturalised and that those rules are applied fairly and transparently. Whether they have their basis in the constitution which is far from perfect, or in enacted legislation is of secondary importance. Obviously under the latter case, the potential exists for a government to change them (in which case it’ll be time to lobby your local TD) but frankly, that’s true for a hell of a lot of day to day running of the country.
I do not, however, agree with your assessment of incompetency on the part of the lawmakers. In fact, much as it might gut me to suggest it, it displays competency of a Machiavellian nature on a monumental scale and the real impact is not so much on citizenship but on the form of democracy in this country. Put simply, you can bet wherever possible, the phrase “unless provided for by law” will be inserted in constitutional amendments to protect the government of the day from having to revisit matters through referenda. Referenda are problematic, you see. They allow the electorate to say “no”. They allow the electorate to give the government bloody noses. I’d have to say that I’m unwilling to get hung up on the subject of citizenship uniquely, because I see this as possibly a bad precedent for referenda on any subject at all, not just citizenship.
And the majority voted for the referendum to allow the Government to do that. That’s what we voted for. We also elect our public representatives to make the laws. There’s no point in having them if we don’t give the ‘a freehand’ on most issues.
Dave,
agreed…but I would venture to suggest that that doesn’t necessarily extend to allowing them to evade the need to consult us on constitutional matters.
So I am now led to believe that every single person holding a British passport in the entire world (honestly well over 60million) can claim Irish citizenship????????
So where is the British equiv. of this law as the British passport may come in handy sometime in the future!
What a bloody joke of a country Ireland has become
Diarmuid, I could be wrong but I think they have to be born in Ireland to claim citizenship but if their parents are British or Irish they don’t have to fulfill the residency requirement (I think!). If one of the parents is not British or Irish then they must be resident in the country for a number of years (3 I think).
But, as noted above, this can all be changed by the government without having to consult the people.
I prefer the old way. If you’re born here you’re Irish. End of story.