persons, although processing times can be lengthy (currently six months or longer). Facilitated access to naturalisation 33. According to the 1954 Convention, States should facilitate, as far as possible, the naturalisation of stateless persons.27 This is key to the reduction of statelessness and ensuring the right to a nationality for stateless persons. Stateless people should be exempted from requirements such as citizenship or integration tests, language testing, application fees, or minimum income requirements and previous criminal convictions or 'good character' requirements should not unreasonably prevent stateless people from acquiring nationality. 34. Naturalisation is the primary pathway for migrants and refugees who are resident in Ireland and who have no prior ties to Ireland to acquire Irish nationality.28 Nationality is granted at the discretion of the Minister for Justice and is subject to the applicant satisfying certain conditions.29 Certain naturalisation requirements may be waived at the discretion of the Minister for Justice for certain naturalisation applicants, including stateless persons.30 35. Although Irish law establishes a facilitated route to naturalisation for stateless people, in practice, without any mechanism to identify and determine statelessness, it is very difficult for a stateless person to prove their eligibility for naturalisation and meet the relevant requirements. Refugees and stateless persons may, in theory, apply for facilitated naturalisation after a reduced minimum residence period of three years (in comparison to five years) but granting of nationality is discretionary. Naturalisation may be refused on the basis of the stateless person being unable to prove their statelessness due to the lack of an SDP and lack of recognition by the authorities of their statelessness. The Minister for Justice has granted Irish nationality to some individuals who have asserted they are stateless and the INIS has waived the requirement to provide evidence of identity during the application process. However, the fee waiver for stateless people was not applied, as the applicant could not produce a certificate proving their statelessness, which the Minister for Justice refuses to issue to stateless persons. Issue 2: Children’s right to a nationality 36. The right to a nationality is ‘essential for the protection of every child’.31 As a signatory to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), Ireland must implement Article 7 to provide for the right of every child to be registered immediately after birth and acquire a nationality “in particular where the child would otherwise be stateless”, and Article 8 27 Article 32 of the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons. Sarah Groarke and Róisín Dunbar, 'Pathways to citizenship through Naturalisation in Ireland': https://www.esri.ie/system/files/publications/RS116_2.pdf <accessed on 3 February 2021>. 29 Section 15 of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act, 1956. 30 Section 16(1)(g) of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act, 1956. 31Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion, Statelessness Essentials Booklet on Childhood Statelessness, 2018: https://files.institutesi.org/childhood-statelessness.pdf, Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion, Statelessness Essentials Booklet on The Convention on the Rights of the Child, 2018: https://files.institutesi.org/statelessness-and-CRC.pdf, Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion, World’s Stateless Report: Children, 2017: https://files.institutesi.org/worldsstateless17.pdf, Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion, Toolkit on Addressing the Right to a Nationality through the Convention on the Rights of the Child, 2016: https://files.institutesi.org/CRC_Toolkit_Final.pdf, UNHCR, Ensuring the right of all children to acquire a nationality, 2018: Connecting the Dots between the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness: https://www.refworld.org/docid/52206aa54.html. 28 8