FBR Gen-3 Registered-Before-Birth (sequential chain)

Unlike Gen-1 (automatic at birth), Gen-3 status is acquired by a positive act of registration - the applicant must apply for entry on the Foreign Births Register, administered by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) under s.27 and the Foreign Births Regulations 2013 (S.I. 47/2013) (A-IE-descent-09, A-IE-descent-11). Authority split (LOCKED): the FBR (descent registration) is kept by DFA / Minister for Foreign Affairs; naturalisation and revocation (not relevant to this route) sit with the Minister for Justice via ISD (S.I. 418/2011; A-IE-INST-01) - do not normalise into a single authority. Sequential-chain steps: (1) the Gen-2 parent must first be on the FBR - if not already registered, the parent registers and must complete that registration BEFORE the Gen-3 child is born for the child to be entitled (the timing condition; A-IE-descent-05); (2) the Gen-3 applicant then lodges an FBR application online at fbr.dfa.ie (online-only; no physical form), under the entry-point 'parent who became an Irish citizen through Foreign Birth Registration prior to your birth'; (3) documentary requirements include: completed/witnessed application form; the applicant's original civil birth certificate; the Irish-citizen parent's original civil birth certificate AND original Foreign Birth Registration Certificate; marriage/name-change certificates as applicable; certified photo ID; two proofs of address; four photographs (DFA documentary lists; A-IE-descent-22). Postal submission of originals is required; the Department returns originals after processing. Fees and timeline [NUMERICAL - Evidence Table pinned]: current DFA operational FBR fees are EUR 278 adult (EUR 270 registration + EUR 8 postage/handling) and EUR 153 under-18 (EUR 145 + EUR 8), paid online (A-IE-descent-12; DFA FBR page, modified 27-Mar-2026); the 2013 statutory figures (EUR 250/125, S.I. 47/2013 reg.8) are NOT current. Processing is approximately 12 months, in strict date order (A-IE-descent-13). Expectant parents whose child may be born before processing completes are directed to the FBR Customer Service Hub - underscoring the registered-before-birth constraint.

IE-DSC-03 is the third-generation (great-grandchild) limb of citizenship by descent, governed by the same INCA 1956 s.7 spine as Gen-1 and Gen-2 but defined by a timing constraint: a great-grandchild of an Irish-born ancestor, born outside the island of Ireland, is entitled to Irish citizenship by Foreign Births Registration ONLY if the qualifying parent (Gen-2) was already registered on the Foreign Births Register (FBR) before the Gen-3 applicant's birth. The conferring provision remains s.7(1) ('A person is an Irish citizen from birth if at the time of his or her birth either parent was an Irish citizen or would if alive have been an Irish citizen'; A-IE-descent-02), but it operates here only through the s.7(3)(a) double-also-born-abroad rule (registration under s.27 required where the qualifying parent was also born outside the island; A-IE-descent-03) read with the s.7(3) proviso (A-IE-descent-04). Why there is no direct great-grandparent pathway: the s.7(3) proviso dates citizenship acquired by FBR registration after 1 July 1986 prospectively - 'as on and from the date of registration' (NOT retroactively to birth; A-IE-descent-04; the effective-date rule lives in the s.7(3) proviso, NOT s.27(2) - VC honoured). A Gen-2 parent who registers becomes an Irish citizen only from the registration date; their own child (Gen-3) satisfies s.7(1)'s 'at the time of birth either parent was an Irish citizen' test only if that parent's registration preceded the Gen-3 birth. There is accordingly no standalone great-grandparent route: the chain must be built sequentially (Gen-2 registers, then Gen-3 may register). honoured - descent is s.7, NOT s.6 (Locked Anchors section 4); descent doctrine re-anchored to the s.7(3) proviso (A-IE-descent-04, A-IE-descent-05).