A person is an Irish citizen where they were born abroad to an Irish citizen parent. This is the situation that gives Irish citizenship to those children born abroad to Irish Defence Forces officers on duty overseas.
In circumstances where the parent is also born outside the island of Ireland (e.g. a child born abroad to an officer on duty overseas), then as a consequence of various changes to and revision of legislation, a range of administrative issues arise when an Irish passport is being sought for that parent’s children (i.e. officers’ grandchildren). These issues are outlined and discussed in the following ARCOIreland Information Brief.
In the light of the recent experience of an ARCOIreland member, ARCOIreland strongly recommends that officers, with children born abroad while the officer served on official duty overseas, make themselves aware of the prevailing legislative administrative procedures regarding overseas births.
