Contrary to what some people assert, there is nothing racist in Ireland’s law of nationality and citizenship. When the independent Irish State was created in 1922, its Constitution provided at Article 3 that the citizens of the Irish Free State were those born in Ireland or either of whose parents was born in Ireland, or who had then been ordinarily resident in the jurisdiction of the Irish Free State for not less than seven years. Citizenship by descent is not racist. It simply entitles some people of recent Irish parentage or grandparentage to be regarded as Irish citizens.
The 1937 Constitution is the basic law of a nation state. Article 1 of Bunreacht na hÉireann affirms the “inalienable, indefeasible and sovereign right” of the “Irish nation” to choose independently “its own form of government, to determine its relations with other nations, and to develop its life, political, economic and cultural in accordance with its own genius and traditions”.
There is a fundamental difference between residence and nationality. Irish citizenship is a status of nationality. Residence is not. Citizenship is not merely an enhanced class of residence rights.
Article 9 of the Constitution lays down that “(f)idelity to the nation and loyalty to the State are fundamental political duties of all citizens”. Only those born into the Irish nation or who seek to become part of the Irish nation by naturalisation enjoy the full constitutional rights accorded to citizens. But the Constitution recognises fundamental human rights of all persons, whether citizens or not, in the application of Irish law.
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The idea that citizenship is a statement of nationality and that people applying for Irish citizenship are seeking admission to the Irish nation seems to be frequently forgotten in public discourse about rights of immigrants. The sovereignty of the Irish nation affirmed in Article 1 of the Constitution is recognised as being vested in the people of Ireland who alone, as citizens, are entitled to amend the Irish Constitution. Citizens have the constitutional right “to designate the rulers of the State, and, in final appeal, to decide all questions of national policy, according to the requirements of the common good”.
Possession of an Irish passport is an outward sign of Irish citizenship and nationality. That is why when the law on citizenship was changed in 2004, it included a provision to prohibit what was previously described as “passports for sale” – conferring full citizenship on foreigners by reference to those who made an economic investment in Ireland.
Because citizenship is an attribute of nationality, it differs fundamentally from mere right of residence in our republic. Fundamental political duties of citizens as Irish nationals – namely fidelity to the nation and loyalty to the Irish State – are solemnly undertaken by those who seek admission to Irish nationality and citizenship.
Citizenship and nationality are not mere legal abstractions. They cannot be bought. They are elements of belonging to a sovereign national community and to the State established by that nation.
Language tests are commonplace in naturalisation processes across Europe. Indeed it is hard to see how adults without capacity to understand and communicate in either of the official languages recognised in Article 8 of the Constitution could effectively exercise civil and political rights reserved in this State for Irish citizens. Many European states, including France, Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic and Switzerland also require applicants for citizenship to undertake tests relating to history, culture and shared constitutional values.
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Across Europe, the right to apply for naturalisation is not “earned” by simple legal residence – even by availing of EU nationals’ right of residence for economic purposes. Minimum residency requirements are almost universally regarded as a necessary – but not as sufficient – basis for the grant of naturalisation and citizenship.
Of course, there are people, mainly on the left, who regard the nation state as a fundamentally outdated bourgeois invention that ought to wither away and be supplanted by a global order in which everyone is free to migrate and reside wherever they wish and to participate in the political, economic and social life of whatever region in which they choose to reside. But that ideology, which devalues notions of nationality and elevates individual human rights to a transcending moral universe, totally ignores the granularity of human existence.
Migration is often hugely valuable for the migrant and the receiving state. But there is no right of migration that ignores the entitlement of citizens of nation states to determine those upon whom they confer nationality. Articles 2 and 3 of our Constitution recognise that the Irish nation cherishes its affinity with people of Irish descent living abroad who share our cultural identity and heritage. Those articles also recognise that Irishness consists of diverse identities and traditions.
In short, there is a danger of confusing citizenship and nationality with residence rights and travel documents. Citizenship is far greater than those outward privileges. Citizenship is also about duties, solidarity, shared values, heritage, community and responsibility.
