Letter from Valentin Iremonger to Peter Berry (Dublin)
(345/96) (Copy)

I enclose herewith a copy of a letter which was received by the Minister’s Private Secretary¹ from Sister Francis Elizabeth of St. Patrick’s Guild, 50 Middle Abbey Street, Dublin. The letter is as you will see self-explanatory and outlines the difficulty which Sister Elizabeth runs up against from time to time in connection with the arrangements which she makes for the adoption abroad of the children placed in her care.

It is true to say that the children in question in Sister Elizabeth’s letter are deprived of the chance of obtaining a good home abroad. They are not Irish citizens within the meaning of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act of 1935 and therefore they are not eligible to be issued with Irish passports to enable them to travel to the homes which Sister Elizabeth finds for them. British law forbids the issue of a British passport to children to enable them to travel abroad for adoption purposes and consequently they are compelled to remain in the care of St. Patrick’s Guild unless and until a home is found for them in this country or in Great Britain. It will be appreciated that this generally proves very difficult.

The Department has given this matter extremely careful consideration and has come to the conclusion that it would not be possible for the Minister in his discretion to issue Irish passports on behalf of the children in question. To do so would be deliberately to contravene a fundamental principle of our passport practice, namely, that passports should be issued only to citizens. Moreover we should probably land ourselves in difficulties with the British.

Bearing in mind, however, the fact that the welfare of these children must be the over-riding consideration, we suggest that, action could be taken by the Minister for Justice to issue them, on suitable application being made, with certificates of naturalisation in accordance with provisions of Section 7 of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act, 1935. It would then be possible to issue them with Irish passports to enable them to travel abroad for adoption purposes. Incidentally, a simpler solution would have been open if they could have been registered in the Northern Ireland Births Register; but we fear that being illegitimate, they would be ineligible for this procedure.

It is proposed to discuss the general position regarding these children with Sister Elizabeth at an early date but before doing so we wish to know whether your Minister would concur with the suggestion put forward in the previous paragraph. The application for the certificate of naturalisation in respect [of] each child, would, of course, in the majority of cases, be made by the mother concerned. If the mother were not alive, Sister Elizabeth could take steps to have herself appointed as legal guardian of the child, thus enabling her to make the application in accordance with the provisions of Section 7(2) of the Act.