UPDATED GUIDANCE ON APPLYING FOR NATURALISATION THROUGH IRISH ASSOCIATIONS
On the 2nd of April 2025, the Department of Justice published updated guidelines for those looking to apply for Irish citizenship via Irish associations.
The Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956 provides that the Minister for Justice has the discretion to grant a certificate of naturalisation where the applicant is of Irish descent of Irish associations, despite the normal conditions for naturalisation not being met.
For the purposes of this Act, a person is considered to be of Irish associations if they are related through blood, affinity or adoption to, or are the civil partner of:
• a person who is (or is entitled to be) an Irish citizen; or
• a deceased person who was (or was entitled to be) an Irish citizen at the time of their death.
It is not enough for a person to simply establish that they are of Irish associations. The Minister will use his absolute discretion in considering these applications, taking into account the following indicative categories:
• Experiential connection to the State
• Family connections to the State
• Cultural connection to the State
• Establishment in the State.
Applications are assessed under section 16(1)(a) and 16(1)(b) of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956 (as amended) on a points basis. Points are awarded for satisfying certain scoring criteria related to the above categories. Applicants will need to achieve a score of at 50% or more in two or more of the above categories in order to qualify.
Notably, 60 points are awarded where the applicant has family members (as defined in section 15C the Act) who are, or were at their time of death, Irish citizens ordinarily resident in Ireland. Please refer to Table 1 in the guidelines for the full indicative scoring criteria.
While this assessment will be used to support officers of the Minister in assessing applications under section 16(1)(a) and 16(1)(b) of the Act, there may be other relevant factors not listed here that may be taken into account depending on the circumstances of an individual’s case. The Minister may exercise their absolute discretion in all cases and decisions will be made on a case-by-case basis.
It should be noted that this is entirely at the Minister’s discretion, and satisfying these guidelines does not guarantee the granting of a certificate of naturalisation. For more information, the new guidelines can be found at https://www.irishimmigration.ie/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Irish-Association-wording-31032005.pdf.