by Billy Cantwell

Many Aussies have Irish ancestors but can they then claim Irish citizenship? The answer is, well, maybe.

Ireland has generous citizenship laws for people of Irish background and less generous rules for spouses of Irish citizens.
If your grandfather or grandmother was Irish-born you can claim Irish citizenship without having to move to Ireland. This comes under the banner of what is termed Foreign Birth Registration (FBR).


The child of an Irish-born person is an Irish citizen. That citizen’s child can apply for citizenship on the basis that they were born to an Irish citizen parent.
If your grandparent was an Irish citizen but not Irish-born, you may still qualify for Irish citizenship. 


Let’s say Mary was born in Ireland, her son Patrick was born in Australia (and is automatically a citizen because his mother was born in Ireland); Patrick’s daughter Melissa can apply for FBR as the child of an Irish citizen born abroad.

People see this as applying through the grandparent, ie Mary, but it really is the parent, Patrick, who is key to it. So, are Melissa’s kids able to apply for Irish citizenship?
The answer is that it depends on Melissa. If she availed of her entitlement to apply for Irish citizenship by FBR and became an Irish citizen, any children she had after that are born to an Irish citizen. These children are in the same situation as Melissa herself was (having an Irish parent who was not born in Ireland) and they too can apply for FBR.

These children are in fact the great grandchildren of Mary who was born in Ireland and as the law stands now they can apply for Irish citizenship. However (and this is the bit that people often misunderstand) if Melissa had children BEFORE she applied for her own Irish citizenship, they are NOT entitled to apply, because they were not born to an Irish citizen.

The key question for people to ask themselves is whether, at the time of their birth, either of their parents was an Irish citizen.
If your birth is not registered, you may still be eligible for Irish citizenship as each case is looked at on its merits.
If the Irish passport assessment officers in the Department of Justice are satisfied that the grandparent was born in Ireland the application can still be successful.

Since 1 January 2005, a person born in Ireland shall not be entitled to be an Irish citizen unless a parent of that person has, during the four years immediately preceding the person’s birth, been resident in the island of Ireland for a period of not less than three years.