On 23 July 2024, changes were made to the process for the revocation of citizenship of naturalised citizens by the Court, Civil Law, Criminal Law and Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2024. These amendments follow a 2021 Supreme Court judgment which found the current citizenship revocation process to be unconstitutional as it was not sufficiently independent and lacked appropriate safeguards for those affected.
The Minister for Justice is empowered to revoke Irish citizenship granted by naturalisation in accordance with the provisions of section 19 of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956 (as amended). However, the power was inoperable as the Irish Supreme Court ruled in Damache v Minister for Justice [2020] that the current revocation procedure under section 19 is unconstitutional. They noted that an individual facing the prospect of revocation of a certificate of naturalisation must be entitled to a process which provides minimum procedural safeguards including an independent and impartial decision-maker.
What do the amendments entail?
Previously, where an individual was informed of the Ministers intention to revoke their certificate of naturalisation, they had a right to request a committee of inquiry to examine the decision. This committee reported the findings to the Minister, but the Minister was not obligated to accept the committee’s findings. In essence, because the Minister both proposed revocation and, following consideration of the non-binding findings of a committee of inquiry, made the final decision, the revocation process was found by the Supreme Court to be lacking an impartial and independent decision-maker.
Under the new procedure outlined in the Act, where the Minister decides to revoke citizenship (following a procedure of informing the individual and receiving representations), the individual will be able to access a committee of inquiry and the decision-making process of this committee will operate independently of the Minister. The committee will be able to affirm or reject the decision of the Minister.
Reactions and Debate
The proposed amendments to the Court, Civil Law, Criminal Law and Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024 concerning the revocation of citizenship were published just two weeks in advance of the Bill’s enactment which raised concern among NGOs and the legal community regarding the haste at which the amendments were introduced and the inability to debate or propose changes. The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission criticised the government for not affording adequate time for proper pre-legislative scrutiny. Other stakeholders commented that it is a missed opportunity to take into account wider policy questions around naturalisation and statelessness. For example, concerns were raised by the Irish Council of Civil Liberties (ICCL) regarding some of the existing grounds for revocation and the missed opportunity for the Oireachtas (Irish Parliament) to consider these matters when re-establishing a process for revocation.
Risk of statelessness
There is no explicit safeguard in the legislation preventing statelessness in the case where an individual’s certificate of naturalisation is revoked. The UNHCR previously recommended in 2023 that laws relating to revocation of citizenship should be amended to ensure that there is a safeguard against statelessness in individual cases. These recommendations were not considered in the revised legislation, however the Minister for Justice stated during debate that statelessness may be considered in the decision of revocation should the scenario arise. This is seen as a cause of concern by ICCL and the Immigrant Council of Ireland due to the lack of a stateless determination procedure in Ireland.
