5. RIGHTS OF STATELESS PERSONS IN IRELAND Although there is no formal recognition of stateless persons in Ireland, stateless persons may have access to a number of rights depending on their legal status in Ireland. For example, as beneficiaries of international protection if granted protection in the asylum procedure, they are entitled to the rights set out in the International Protection Act 2015. In the absence of a statelessness determination procedure, however, stateless persons in Ireland are not identified as such and on the whole are unable to enjoy their full rights under the 1954 Convention. This section considers two specific rights under the 1954 Convention: access to travel documents and access to naturalisation in Ireland. 5.1 Travel Documents for Stateless Persons Article 28 of the 1954 Convention provides “[the] Contracting States shall issue to stateless persons lawfully staying in their territory travel documents for the purpose of travel outside their territory, unless compelling reasons of national security or public order otherwise require..” In Ireland, stateless persons who have been granted refugee status may obtain travel documents, known as ‘Travel Document (Convention of 28 July 1951)’, on the basis of their status as a refugee. Both beneficiaries of international protection and their family members may obtain a travel document in accordance with section 55 of the International Protection Act 2015. In the case of stateless persons granted subsidiary protection however, they may only receive a travel document if they can demonstrate they are unable to obtain a national passport. There is also a specific travel document issued for stateless persons known as ‘Travel Document (Convention of 28 September 1954)’ but this is only issued to persons determined to be stateless in advance of the application for the travel document. Stateless persons must submit a declaration of statelessness with their application to avail of that type of travel document. Since 2014 only one travel document of this kind has been issued to a person determined to be stateless by the Department of Justice. Stateless persons residing on other grounds and not officially recognised as stateless by the Irish authorities may apply for a travel document in a similar way to other persons with permission to remain who do not hold a national passport. These applications are processed outside a legislative framework and on a case-by-case basis.110 The travel document is not specifically aimed at stateless persons but is available on an exceptional basis for persons with permission to remain, which may include stateless individuals.111 Certain conditions are required to obtain these travel documents: a) the person applying is present in the State; b) the person is legally residing in the State; c) the person is unable to obtain a national passport from their country of origin.112 In general there is no obligation on the Irish authorities to issue such documents. However the State’s obligation under international law to provide travel documents to stateless persons is acknowledged by the Department of Justice on the relevant website “You may apply for a travel document if you: have been declared stateless in accordance with the New York Convention of 1954.”113 Without a formal statelessness determination procedure in Ireland, it is difficult to see how an individual could establish this and no data is collected on applications made by stateless persons. Where a person self-declares as stateless, they need to provide a detailed explanation of their situation, supported by a personal immigration history and country of origin information in relation to obtaining passports from their 30 110 Correspondence with Principal Officer, Repatriation Division, Department of Justice, November 2019. 111 The Travel Document Application Form indicates that such temporary travel documents are issued in exceptional circumstances only, usually for the purpose of seeking urgent medical treatment or other humanitarian reasons, to a person who is currently resident in Ireland, and does not hold a national passport. 112 Correspondence with Principal Officer, Repatriation Division, Department of Justice, November 2019. 113 Department of Justice, Applying for Travel Document, available at: https://bit.ly/3FHBu1O Mapping Statelessness in Ireland