45,000 people seeking to claim Irish citizenship under 'grandparent' or 'parent' rule

Seán McCárthaigh

Around 45,000 people are currently waiting to have their applications for Irish citizenship processed under the grandparent or parent rule, according to official figures.

However, the Department of Foreign Affairs said waiting times for foreign birth applications to be processed has reduced significantly over the past year.

The system allows the descendants of Irish people who have moved abroad to claim Irish citizenship.

People based in England currently for the largest number of applicants with approximately 16,500 seeking Irish citizenship.

The second highest number of applications comes from the US with 11,300, followed by Scotland and Canada (1,400 each) and Australia (1,300).

There are also 800 applications from claimants currently based in Ireland as well as 600 each from New Zealand and South Africa.

Other countries with 100 or more applications for Irish citizenship are , the Netherlands, , Spain, Switzerland, the UAE, Wales and the Channel Islands.

Individuals who are born outside Ireland can claim Irish citizenship if one of their grandparents was born in Ireland.

People can also become an Irish citizen if one of their parents was an Irish citizen at the time of the applicant’s birth even if the parent was not born in Ireland.

Similarly, individuals born outside Ireland can gain Irish citizenship through a parent who has obtained citizenship through naturalisation or post nuptial citizenship.

In reply to a parliamentary question by Social Democrats TD for Kildare North, the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Simon Harris, said the time taken to process foreign birth registration applications was currently nine months.

Mr Harris said the average waiting time had reduced from over two and a half years in 2023.

“This improvement is a result of the investment of significant extra resources to the foreign birth registration unit over the past two years,” the Tánaiste added.

“Foreign birth registration, by its nature, is a detailed and complex process, often involving official documentation relating to three generations and issued by several jurisdictions. Such documents take considerable time to validate,” said Mr Harris.

He continued: “Applications are processed in the order in which they are submitted. Processing time begins when all ing documents are received by the port Service, and applications that require further ing documentation will take longer to process.”

The Department of Foreign Affairs said 36,000 applications were currently being processed by the port Service with documentation awaited from 9,000 other applicants.