According to gov.uk the child could be a British citizen from the status of at least one of his/her parents. It might be that different arrangements have been made for the child's citizenship, but right to reside seems more straightforward: "You have the right to reside if you’re a close relative of an EU, EEA [including Norway] or Swiss citizen. Close relatives [include] children". Are the new settled status arrangements for Brexit changing this qualification, because the existing web pages seem to solve Mr Kriel's problem?
 |
| Diane Dodds MEP |
The question concerns citizenship for those born in Northern Ireland, and has been through social media campaigns, questions in the Commons and a judge's decision which set the Good Friday Agreement above UK law. And thereby, to coin a phrase, set Northern Ireland adrift from Great Britain.
The Good Friday Agreement proclaims "the British and Irish Governments... will... recognise the birthright of all the people of Northern Ireland to identify themselves and be accepted as Irish or British, or both, as they may so choose, and accordingly confirm that their right to hold both British and Irish citizenship is accepted by both Governments and would not be affected by any future change in the status of Northern Ireland".
Ms Dodds cites that same paragraph of the agreement (paragraph 1(vi) of the section on Constitutional Issues), but stresses particular words. She refers to people's "right to hold both British and Irish citizenship" and offers an interpretation: "this does not say British or Irish citizenship. Therefore most people born in Northern Ireland are entitled automatically to Irish citizenship, but this is in addition to, and not instead of, British citizenship". Which doesn't seem right.
The citizenship question is simple in the Republic of Ireland, which amended its nationality laws to reflect the position set out in the Good Friday Agreement, but complex in the UK, including Northern Ireland, because the UK amended nothing.
The right to one citizenship or the other, or both, was established as a birthright, so campaigner Emma DeSouza can state "I am an Irish national born in Northern Ireland, Irish by birth & Irish under the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement", yet she has been informed by the UK government that she is "as a matter of fact a British citizen", and that to exercise the rights of an Irish citizen she will have to renounce the British citizenship she doesn't consider she has.
Ms DeSouza's case arose initially because she wanted to regularise her husband's status - Brexit is raising questions like this for millions of people - but other questions have come up, fed by the absence of any provision for this birthright in British law and the apparent ignorance and incompetence of ministers of the British government.
In a related enquiry, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Karen Bradley was asked "for what reason do the reciprocal voting rights of Irish citizens not cover referendums" and replied "The voting rights which will continue to be enjoyed by British and Irish citizens are reciprocal. British citizens may vote in local and parliamentary elections in Ireland but not Presidential elections or referendums. This reciprocal right is reflected in the voting rights of Irish citizens living in the United Kingdom", thereby appearing to confirm that the basis of the question is the case and has always been so.
Other questions of this sort are blowing up, but for now let's just return to the tribunal Ms DeSouza and her husband asked to decide on their status. The judge stated: "under the terms of the Good Friday agreement people of Northern Ireland are in a unique position within the United Kingdom. The British and Irish governments recognised the birthright of all the people in Northern Ireland to identify themselves as Irish or British or both, as they may so choose." and went on: "The constitutional changes effected by the Good Friday Agreement with its annexed British-Irish Agreement, the latter amounting to an international treaty between sovereign governments supersede the British Nationality Act 1981 in so far as the people of Northern Ireland are concerned. He or she is permitted to chose their nationality as a birthright. Nationality cannot therefore be imposed on them at birth."
I essayed a rather naive look at this subject in 2017, but with the Brexit "settled status" system being rolled out even in the absence of any final decision on withdrawing from the EU, and the Home Office showing every sign of building a new Windrush scandal in plain sight (there is no document which states that you have settled status; every employer, landlord, service provider etc will have to go online to discover whether you can live, work or receive healthcare etc in the UK) it seems inescapable that the complexity and cost of this shambles will continue to grow.
