Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

Under the Freedom of Information Act 2014, I request access to non-personal records held by the Department of Foreign Affairs (Citizenship/Passport Division) regarding retrospective/posthumous entries in the Foreign Births Register and related decision- making. This concerns Section 27 (Foreign Births Register) of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956 (as amended), and any use of Section 28 certificates of nationality in support of such cases, particularly for historical diaspora claims. Scope and Date Range: 1 January 2018 to the date of this request. Records Requested: 1. Existing Statistics/Returns/Reports: Any existing annual or periodic statistics, management reports, dashboards, or returns showing, for the above period: o Number of retrospective/posthumous s.27 applications received, approved, refused, or withdrawn (by year). o Any recorded approval/refusal rates for such cases. o Any recorded processing-time metrics (e.g., mean/median or percentiles) for such cases, including breakdowns for multi-generational "broken chain" or pre-1956 transitional cases if available. (Note: I am not seeking the creation of new statistics—only existing compilations or extracts readily available.) 2. Guidance and Procedures: Current or superseded internal Standard Operating Procedures, guidance notes, staff circulars, training materials, or checklists used in assessing retrospective/posthumous s.27 entries, including references to: o Evidentiary standards (e.g., acceptable proof like birth/marriage/death records, foreign letters, translations/apostilles). o Treatment of pre-1956 and 1986 transitional issues. 3. Templates and Forms: Blank/redacted templates of forms, letters, decision templates, and acknowledgement/refusal/approval notices used in retrospective/posthumous s.27 matters. 4. Anonymised Case Summaries (If Held): Any existing anonymised summaries used for training/precedent purposes that illustrate successful and unsuccessful retrospective/posthumous s.27 entries (with all personal data removed), especially for diaspora cases involving unregistered abroad-born ancestors.