Ireland has ratified the 1954 Convention but has yet to implement many of its obligations arising thereunder.
Ireland has made one reservation to the Convention, which reads as follows:
“With regard to article 29(1), the Government of Ireland do not undertake to accord to stateless persons
treatment more favourable than that accorded to aliens generally with respect to
(a) The stamp duty chargeable in Ireland in connection with conveyances, transfers and leases of lands,
tenements and hereditaments, and
(b) Income tax (including sur-tax).”20
2.2.2 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness
The 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness is the primary international legal instrument adopted to
date to deal with the means of avoiding statelessness. The 1961 Convention entered into force in 1975 and has
78 States Parties at the time of publication. Article 1(1) of the 1961 Convention provides ‘A Contracting State shall
grant its nationality to a person born in its territory who would otherwise be stateless.’ The Convention provides
for acquisition of nationality for those who would otherwise be stateless and who have an appropriate link with
the state through factors of birth or descent. The issues of retention of nationality once acquired and transfer of
territory are also addressed. The 1961 Convention does not only address nationality issues within the jurisdiction
of a state, but also offers solutions to nationality problems which might arise between states. To this end, the
principles outlined in the Convention provide a framework within which to resolve conflicts concerning nationality.
Ireland has ratified the 1961 Convention and has partially implemented some of its obligations thereunder via
nationality and citizenship legislation (discussed further below in chapter 6). Ireland has made one reservation to
the Convention, which reads as follows:
“In accordance with paragraph 3 of article 8 of the Convention Ireland retains the right to deprive a
naturalised Irish citizen of his citizenship pursuant to section 19(1)(b) of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship
Act, 1956, on grounds specified in the aforesaid paragraph.”21
2.2.3 International Human Rights Law on Statelessness
Human rights instruments such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the Convention
on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), and
the International Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) all contain provisions on the right
to a nationality and on the prohibition of discrimination. Stateless persons falling within the definition of the term
‘refugee’ in the 1951 Refugee Convention are entitled to protection under that Convention as a refugee.22
20
United Nations Treaty Collection, Depositary Status on the Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, available at:
https://bit.ly/3VRB3HV
21
Declarations and Reservations to the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, available at: https://www.unhcr.org/416113864.pdf
22
UN General Assembly, Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, 28 July 1951, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 189, p. 137,
available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/3be01b964.html (Refugee Convention).
UNHCR
11