3. STATELESSNESS IN IRELAND Ireland acceded to the 1954 Convention on the Status of Stateless Persons on 17 December 1962 and to the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness on 18 January 1973. Although Ireland is a state party to both statelessness conventions, as well as to other international human rights instruments that contain provisions relevant to statelessness, not all of their obligations are provided for in Irish law and the issue has received little attention at the national level. The two main action points of relevance in the Global Action Plan to End Statelessness with respect to Ireland are: • Action 6: Grant protection status to stateless migrants and facilitate their naturalization38 and • Action 10: Improve quantitative and qualitative data on stateless populations.39 As set out in this chapter and chapter 4, Ireland currently does not have a determination procedure to grant status to stateless persons nor is there any systematic collection of data regarding stateless persons here. Consequently, stateless persons residing in Ireland are rarely identified and recognised as such. Likewise, the lack of systematic qualitative or quantitative data means it is difficult to establish just how many stateless persons are in Ireland. This section outlines the law and practice around stateless persons in Ireland.40 Statelessness encountered in Ireland is related to stateless refugees and migrants who have travelled to Ireland. 3.1 National Legal Framework It is important to note that there is no specific national legislation that transposes international law on statelessness into Irish law. There is also no definition of ‘stateless person’ within Irish law. However, the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956 (as amended) and the International Protection Act 2015 contain relevant provisions with respect to statelessness. 3.1.1 Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956 (as amended) The law that governs citizenship in Ireland is the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956 as amended.41 Under section 6(3) of the 1956 Act, as amended by the 2001 Act, 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. Section 28 of the Act enables the Minister for Justice to issue a certificate of nationality to any person who is an Irish citizen and this provision has 14 38 UNHCR, Good Practices Paper – Action 6: Establishing Statelessness Determination Procedures to Protect Stateless Persons, July 2020, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5f203d0e4.html 39 Action 10: Improve quantitative and qualitative data on stateless populations. 40 On statelessness in Ireland see also European Network on Statelessness (ENS), Index for Ireland, March 2021, available at: https://index.statelessness.eu/country/ireland 41 Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956 (No. 26 of 1956) as amended by the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1986 (No. 23 of 1986), the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1994 (No. 9 of 1994), the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 2001 (No. 15 of 2001), the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 2004 (No. 38 of 2004), the Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2011 (No. 23 of 2011), the Gender Recognition Act 2015 and the Diplomatic Relations (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2017, known as the revised version of the 1956 Act, Law Reform Commission, August 2021, available at: https://bit.ly/3hgttHB Hereinafter the reference to the 1956 Act refers to this version of the Act. Mapping Statelessness in Ireland