UK court rules against Derry woman in Irish identity case theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/o…
Key elements of ruling to be included in updated story, but they are: THREAD1/
Key elements of ruling to be included in updated story, but they are: THREAD1/
"as a matter of law Mrs de Souza is, at present, a British citizen at the current time"
- international treaties such as Good Friday Agreement are entered into under Royal Prerorgative
- prerogative does not extend to changing domestic law without intervention of parliament 2/
- international treaties such as Good Friday Agreement are entered into under Royal Prerorgative
- prerogative does not extend to changing domestic law without intervention of parliament 2/
If the UK is prevented from conferring automatic British citizenship on those born in Northern Ireland at the point of birth, it follows that Ireland cannot confer Irish citizenship. Therefore citizens would be stateless and both countries in breach of int obligations 3/
The difficulties of conferring nationality based on consent raises "a host of difficult issues". When would someone consent? A baby could not "rationally" be expected to consent. 4/
For these contentions consent issues 1998 Northern Ireland Act deliberately omits "anything touching upon the issues of self-identification and nationality"5/
There is "nothing" in the Northern Ireland Act 19978 that "amounts to domestic legislation" giving effect to the peace treaty right for people born in Northern Ireland to identify as under Article 1(vi) to "identify
themselves and be accepted as Irish or British, or both"
themselves and be accepted as Irish or British, or both"
