6.2 Withdrawal of Citizenship and Statelessness The 1961 Convention also has measures prohibiting the withdrawal of citizenship through loss, renunciation or deprivation of nationality when such withdrawal would result in statelessness. Only under a few limited exceptional circumstances does the Convention allow for the withdrawal of nationality resulting in statelessness.130 Ireland has retained a reservation to this Convention as outlined in section 2.3.2. enabling the loss of citizenship for naturalised Irish persons with reference to Article 8(3) of the 1961 Convention.131 There are no provisions in Irish law for revocation132 of citizenship granted at birth, only for revocation of citizenship obtained by naturalisation.133 Section 19 of the Citizenship Act 1956 provides for the various grounds when a certificate of naturalisation can be revoked including where the certificate was procured by fraud or misrepresentation.134 Under Section 19(2) the Minister for Justice is obliged to give individuals notice of her intention to revoke a certificate of naturalisation, including the reasons why such action is being taken. The person concerned may then request an inquiry before a special committee appointed by the Minister. This is not a judicial body, but the chairman of the committee must have judicial experience. However, there is no explicit safeguard preventing statelessness in the event that an individual’s certificate of naturalisation is revoked. During the drafting of the 1961 Convention at the UN Conference on the Elimination or Reduction of Future Statelessness, Ireland noted in a memorandum submitted by the Minister for External Affairs at that time that, with respect to revocation, ‘in any case, where the revocation of an Irish certificate of naturalisation would result in statelessness, the Minister for Justice would take this factor into consideration in deciding whether or not to revoke the certificate.’135 This seems to indicate that the possibility of a person becoming stateless upon revocation of citizenship is considered by the committee. The revocation procedure was examined by the Supreme Court in 2020 in the case of Damache v the Minister for Justice and Equality.136 The Supreme Court held that the Sections (19)(2) and 19(3) of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956 as amended are unconstitutional because the revocation process does not meet the requirements of natural justice. The Court held that ‘the process by which citizenship may be lost must be robust and at the very least (….) must observe minimum procedural standards in order to comply with the State’s human rights obligations.’ It emphasised that a high degree of procedural fairness is required given the loss of many crucial rights associated with citizenship during revocation and the fact that a person may be rendered 130 For further information see UNHCR, Guidelines on Statelessness No. 5: Loss and Deprivation of Nationality under Articles 5-9 of the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, May 2020, HCR/GS/20/05, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5ec5640c4.html 131 Article 8(3) 1961 Convention “Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph 1 of this Article, a Contracting State may retain the right to deprive a person of his nationality, if at the time of signature, ratification or accession it specifies its retention of such right on one or more of the following grounds, being grounds existing in its national law at that time: (a) that, inconsistently with his duty of loyalty to the Contracting State, the person (i) has, in disregard of an express prohibition by the Contracting State rendered or continued to render services to, or received or continued to receive emoluments from, another State, or (ii) has conducted himself in a manner seriously prejudicial to the vital interests of the State; (b) that the person has taken an oath, or made a formal declaration, of allegiance to another State, or given definite evidence of his determination to repudiate his allegiance to the Contracting State.” 132 Revocation is the terminology used in the Citizenship Act 1956 which is equivalent to deprivation as set out in the 1961 Convention. 133 Although it should be noted that, there is a pending Supreme Court case in relation to the refusal to renew an Irish passport issued to a Irish born child as a result of the father’s revocation of refugee status in the case of UM (a minor suing by his father and next friend MM) v, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade and Passport Appeals Officer, [2020] IECA 154. 134 Section 19(1) Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956: “The Minister may revoke a certificate of naturalisation if he is satisfied— (a) that the issue of the certificate was procured by fraud, misrepresentation whether innocent or fraudulent, or concealment of material facts or circumstances, or (b) that the person to whom it was granted has, by any overt act, shown himself to have failed in his duty of fidelity to the nation and loyalty to the State, or (c) that (except in the case of a certificate of naturalisation which is issued to a person of Irish descent or associations) the person to whom it is granted has been ordinarily resident outside the State or, in the case of an application for a certificate of naturalisation granted under section 15A, resident outside the island of Ireland (otherwise than in the public service) for a continuous period of seven years and without reasonable excuse has not during that period registered annually in the prescribed manner his name and a declaration of his intention to retain Irish citizenship with an Irish diplomatic mission or consular office or with the Minister, or (d) that the person to whom it is granted is also, under the law of a country at war with the State, a citizen of that country, or (e) that the person to whom it is granted has by any voluntary act, other than marriage or entry into a civil partnership, acquired another citizenship.” 135 For further information see UN Conference on the Elimination or Reduction of Future Statelessness Addendum to Comments by Governments on the revised Draft Convention on the Elimination of Future Statelessness and the revised Draft Convention on the Reduction of Future Statelessness, prepared by the International Law Commission at its sixth session, A/CONF.9/5/Add.3 available at: https://bit.ly/3iKEocY 136 Supreme Court, Damache v Minister for Justice and Equality, Ireland and the Attorney General, 10 February 2021, available at: https://bit.ly/3Hv9tMk UNHCR 35