17. The legal and policy framework related to the right to a nationality, and the rights of stateless persons in Ireland has, on paper, some positive aspects. Nationality law provides for accelerated naturalisation of stateless persons and the waiver of fees. However, as will be discussed in para. 33-35, practical challenges exist in relation to facilitated naturalisation due to the lack of a statelessness determination procedure. Although statelessness may be examined in the context of other administrative procedures, determination of statelessness is not the explicit objective of any of these procedures, and they do not lead to adequate protection and rights under the 1954 Convention. 18. Further, national law does not contain a definition of a stateless person, and the national legal framework does not allow for direct application of the 1954 Convention definition without incorporation into domestic law. 19. There are some safeguards to ensure children’s right to a nationality in Ireland, but there are gaps in law and practice for some children born stateless on the territory. Further, it is unclear how a child’s nationality may be determined if they are not entitled to apply for an Irish passport, resulting in a risk of statelessness in some cases.23 20. International law prohibits the arbitrary deprivation of nationality, as well as nationality deprivation which is discriminatory or results in statelessness. As this submission will elaborate, nationality deprivation practices in Ireland lack adequate safeguards in this regard. 21. International law also prohibits arbitrary detention. Without adequate safeguards, stateless people can be at particular risk of arbitrary immigration detention. 24 Immigration detention is generally the exception rather than the norm in Ireland. Stateless people are not routinely detained, but there are some gaps in legal protections against their arbitrary detention. For example, there is no requirement for a country of removal to be identified in deportation orders and statelessness is not proactively considered in decisions to detain. The law does not explicitly provide that detention should only be used as a measure of last resort after all alternatives have been exhausted and legal aid is not guaranteed. People released from immigration detention are not issued with identification documents nor do they have specific rights unless they have applied for international protection. Issue 1: The rights of stateless persons and access to a nationality Identification and determination of statelessness 22. Identifying stateless people in the country is a necessary first step to providing them a secure legal status, and protecting and ensuring their enjoyment of basic human rights. Without early identification and formal determination of statelessness, stateless persons cannot enjoy their rights under human rights treaties and the 1954 Convention, 23 See paragraphs 37-41 below. European Network on Statelessness, Protecting Stateless Persons from Arbitrary Detention: An Agenda for Change, 2017: https://www.statelessness.eu/sites/www.statelessness.eu/files/attachments/resources/ENS_LockeInLimbo_Detention_Agend a_online.pdf; European Network on Statelessness, Protecting Stateless Persons from Arbitrary Detention: A regional toolkit for practitioners, 2017: https://www.statelessness.eu/sites/www.statelessness.eu/files/ENS_Detention_Toolkit.pdf. 24 5