Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, if she will discuss with the Secretary of State for the Home Department what changes would be needed to ensure that Northern Ireland citizens born in the Republic of Ireland are able to apply for UK passports on the same terms as those under which Northern Ireland citizens are able to apply for Irish passports.

As the hon Member is aware I have raised this issue with my Rt hon Friend the Home Secretary previously. I am content to do so again, though as previous correspondence has made clear, giving Irish born nationals resident in Northern Ireland an entitlement to UK passports would be far from straightforward. It would raise a number of difficulties and potential precedents with regard to citizenship criteria. As I am sure the hon Member will acknowledge, decisions on eligibility for citizenship raise sensitive matters and a proposal for automatic entitlement by citizens of another jurisdiction could impact on the sovereign decision-making power of Her Majesty’s Government.