the revocation of citizenship would result in statelessness. There have been several proposals to revoke Irish nationality of naturalised nationals issued in recent years, but the determination of those cases had effectively been suspended awaiting the outcome of the test case of Ali Charaf Damache v the Minister for Justice and Equality challenging the procedure for revocation.53 In the Damache case, the Supreme Court of Ireland ruled that the procedure which allows the Government to revoke the Irish nationality of naturalised citizens under Section 19 of the Citizenship Act is unconstitutional, and 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”. 54 Procedural safeguards must be introduced to ensure that a decision to revoke a certificate of naturalisation will not result in the person becoming stateless. 44. In addition to the statutory provisions for revocation of Irish nationality granted by naturalisation, there are also statutory provisions relating to the refusal to issue an Irish passport and/or cancellation and surrender of passports that have been issued. This may happen, for example, where the Passport Office has issued a passport in error to a child born in Ireland but who did not qualify for nationality at birth as a parent was not an Irish citizen and/or did not fulfil the necessary residence criteria prior to the child's birth. Although there is an appeal procedure, there is no explicit safeguard to prevent statelessness pending the conclusion of the legal process.55 45. A case currently before the Irish High Court relates to the derivative loss of nationality of a seven-year-old child whose father’s naturalised citizenship was revoked in 2020 after he joined the so-called ‘Islamic State’. 56 The father, now feared dead, was naturalised in 2010 based on marriage to a British citizen whom he subsequently divorced. His nationality was revoked in 2020 on grounds of fraud, on the basis that this was a marriage of convenience. Ireland now refuses to recognise the child as an Irish national, despite the fact that he was born in 2013, when his father was an Irish national. This case raises questions regarding the child’s right to a nationality and the derivative loss of nationality. It is also illustrative of the conflation of fraud and national security related nationality deprivation practices. The child’s right to acquire and retain their nationality (Articles 7 and 8 CRC), the principle of the best interests of the child (Article 3) and the prohibition of discrimination (including by association – Article 2), must inform State practice in this regard. 46. When assessed against international legal standards, as articulated in the Principles on Deprivation of Nationality, it is evident that Irish law and practice on deprivation of nationality provides no safeguards to prevent statelessness, derivative loss of nationality and childhood statelessness and can be a discriminatory measure which does not apply to birthright citizens, but is limited to naturalised nationals, i.e. those with a migrant heritage who are more likely to belong to ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities. In 53 Damache -v- Minister for Justice [2021] IESC 6: https://courts.ie/viewer/pdf/9f6e2c6d-eb77-4c9f-ad57fffe7ffc65f6/2020_IESC_63%20(Unapproved).pdf/pdf#view=fitH The appellant, Mr Ali Charaf Damache, an Algerian citizen by birth, became naturalised as an Irish citizen in 2008 through marriage. However, in October 2018 Ireland’s Minister for Justice and Equality issued Mr Damache a notice of intention to revoke his naturalisation certificate on the ground that the appellant had been disloyal to the State, after he pleaded guilty to a terrorist offence before a federal court in the United States. 54 Damache -v- Minister for Justice [2021] IESC 6, para. 115. 55 See Islam v Minister for Justice [2019] IEHC 559: https://www.courts.ie/acc/alfresco/24a5d17f-2fd5-4d67-96b8024524c827ac/2019_IEHC_559_1.pdf/pdf#view=fitH. The Court held that where the Minister proposes cancelling a passport, fair procedures may require that advance notice of that intention is given along with an opportunity to make representations as to why the passport should not be cancelled, e.g. if the child was to be rendered stateless by the cancellation. 56 See: https://www.irishcentral.com/news/dublin-born-child-alleged-isis-fighter-irish-citizenship. 12