IRELAND
LEGAL AND POLICY CONTEXT
In January 2016, the UN Committee of the
Rights of the Child examined Ireland’s com-
pliance with the UNCRC 1 . The Committee
expressed concern about the inadequacy of
the Irish framework in addressing the needs
of migrant children and the absence of clear,
accessible formal procedures for conferring mi-
gration status on persons in irregular migration
situations. It recommended that Ireland adopt
a comprehensive legal framework to address
the needs of migrant children. Prior to the
Immigrant Council’s report, research and policy
analysis had largely focused on unaccompanied
and separated children seeking asylum, and
little attention had been paid to the experiences
of other migrant children, including those who
did not seek international protection and those
who moved with their families or travelled to
join their families.
In Ireland, all foreign nationals over the age of
16 who are not citizens of a Member State of the
EU or the European Economic Area (EEA) or
Switzerland 2 are obliged to register 3 . Children
under the age of 16 are assumed to have the
same migration status as their parents 4 , but not
all have a confirmation of their status, which can
lead to difficulties in establishing their personal
residence history. There are no clear procedures
for regularisation in the cases of children over
the age of 16 who fail to meet registration dead-
lines or for younger children whose parents are
in irregular migration situations. Individuals
who cannot register under a specific migration
scheme can make a written application to the
Minister of Justice to seek permission to reside
in Ireland, by outlining their personal circum-
stances and activities in the country.
Since 2005, children born in Ireland are entitled
to Irish citizenship if they have a parent who is
an Irish citizen, a refugee, a British citizen or, if
a foreign national, the parent must have been a
legal resident in Ireland for three years before
the birth of the child 5 . Undocumented parents
who have a child who is granted Irish citizen-
ship subsequently have legal grounds to apply
for permission to remain in Ireland 6 .
Many migrant children become undocumented
because they are unaware of their obligations to
register and do not have sufficient information
on the procedures. Children being cared for by
the State face challenges as migration status is
not typically included in care plans and is often
overlooked until a young person seeks to access
formal education, social or housing support.
1 _ “Concluding Observations on the Combined Third and Fourth Periodic Reports of Ireland”, Committee on the Rights of the Child, 1 March
2016, CRC/C/IRL/CO 3-4.
2 _ “How the Irish Immigration System Works”, Seirbhís Eadóirseachta agus Inimirce na hÉireann - Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service,
last modified 10 February 2017, http://www.inis.gov.ie/en/INIS/Pages/about-registration-system.
3 _ With the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service if living in Dublin, and with their local Immigration Officer based in a Garda station if
living outside Dublin.
4 _ Section 9(6), paragraph (a) of the Immigration Act 2004. Section 35(b) of the Employment Permits (Amendment) Act 2014 provides for
amending the Immigration Act to delete this exception. That amendment has not yet taken effect. The Migrant Integration Strategy published
in 2017 commits to enabling registration of “non-EEA migrants aged under 16 years” by 2018. See: “The Migrant Integration Strategy: A
Blueprint for the Future”, Department of Justice and Equality, 2017, 23, http://www.integration.ie/website/omi/omiwebv6.nsf/page/JWKY-
AJEE6A1021139-en/$File/Migrant_Integration_Strategy_English.pdf.
5 _ Irish Nationality and Citizenship Acts 1956 and 2004; see also Citizens Information, “Irish Citizenship through Birth or Descent”, last modified
9 May 2017, http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/moving_country/irish_citizenship/irish_citizenship_through_birth_or_descent.html.
6 _ For more information, see: Irish Naturalisation and Immigration service http://www.inis.gov.ie/, and Immigrant Council of Ireland, “Child
Migration Matters: Children and Young People’s Experiences of Migration”.
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