Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956
F9[Citizenship by birth in the island of Ireland.
6.—F10[(1) Subject to section 6A (inserted by section 4 of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 2004), every person born in the island of Ireland is entitled to be an Irish citizen.]
(2) F10[(a) Subject to subsection (5), a person who is entitled under subsection (1) to be an Irish citizen shall be an Irish citizen from the date of his or her birth if—
(i) he or she does any act that only an Irish citizen is entitled to do, or
(ii) in the case of a person who is not of full age or who is suffering from a mental incapacity, any act is done on his or her behalf that only an Irish citizen is entitled to do.]
(b) The fact that a person so born has not done, or has not had done on his or her behalf, such an act shall not of itself give rise to a presumption that the person is not an Irish citizen or is a citizen of another country.
(3) A person born in the island of Ireland is an Irish citizen from birth if he or she is not entitled to citizenship of any other country.
(4) F11[…]
(5) A person born in the island of Ireland who has made a declaration of alienage under section 21 shall remain entitled to be an Irish citizen, but shall not be an Irish citizen unless, in the prescribed manner, that person declares that he or she is an Irish citizen; and such person shall be an Irish citizen from the date of the declaration.]
F12[(6) In this section "person" does not include a person born in the island of Ireland on or after the commencement of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 2004—
(a) neither of whose parents was at the time of the person's birth—
(i) an Irish citizen or entitled to be an Irish citizen,
(ii) a British citizen,
(iii) a person entitled to reside in the State without any restriction on his or her period of residence (including in accordance with a permission granted under section 4 of the Act of 2004), or
(iv) a person entitled to reside in Northern Ireland without any restriction on his or her period of residence, and
(b) at least one of whose parents was at that time F13[a person referred to in section 2(1) or section 2(1A) of the Immigration Act 2004].]
Annotations:
Amendments:
F9
Substituted (2.12.1999) by Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 2001 (15/2001), s. 3(1), commenced as per s. 9(3).
F10
Substituted (1.01.2005) by Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 2004 (38/2004), s. 3(a), (b), S.I. No. 873 of 2004.
F11
Deleted (1.01.2005) by Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 2004 (38/2004), s. 3(c), S.I. No. 873 of 2004.
F12
Inserted (1.01.2005) by Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 2004 (38/2004), s. 3(d), S.I. No. 873 of 2004.
F13
Substituted (13.12.2017) by Diplomatic Relations (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2017 (33/2017), s. 9(a), commenced on enactment.
Modifications (not altering text):
C3
Certain references to “father”, “mother” or “parent” construed (14.12.1987) by Status of Children Act 1987 (26/1987), s. 5, commenced as per s. 1(2)(a).
Meaning of father, mother, parent in Irish Nationality and Citizenship Acts, 1956 and 1986.
5.—It is hereby declared that, in relation to a child, any reference to “father”, “mother” or “parent” in the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Acts, 1956 and 1986, includes and shall be deemed always to have included the father, mother or parent, as the case may require, who was not married to the child's other parent at the time of the child's birth or at any time during the period of ten months preceding the birth.