Enacted International Protection Act 2026 (9/2026) Conforming Regime

No new eligibility class is created by this route. IE-NAT-04 is a conforming-amendment overlay, not a standalone pathway; eligibility for naturalisation continues to be governed by INCA 1956 s.15 (standard 5-in-9, 'in the State') and the s.16 dispensations, with the s.16(1)(g) refugee/stateless discretion handled at IE-NAT-03. What s.295 changes — once commenced — is which periods of residence count ('reckonable residence') toward those existing thresholds, by re-stating the exclusion categories in s.16A(1) (naturalisation reckoning) and s.6B(4) (s.6A conditional-jus-soli reckoning). The pre-amendment s.16A(1) excludes from reckonable residence: (a) unlawful presence (Immigration Act 2004 s.5(1)); (b) student/education permission (s.4); (c) residence of an international-protection applicant entitled to remain only under IP Act 2015 s.16(1). Section 295(b) re-frames limbs (b) and (c) and adds a new limb (d) keyed to Regulation (EU) 2024/1348 categories and IP Act 2026 ss.214/215/236. The practical eligibility consequence affecting international-protection grantees — the move to 5 years reckonable residence from 8 December 2025 — is an administrative ISD change, NOT effected by s.295, and is captured substantively at IE-NAT-03. Until s.295 is commenced, the pre-amendment s.6B(4)/s.16A(1) text remains the operative reckoning law.

There is no distinct application procedure for IE-NAT-04 because it is a legislative overlay, not an applicant-facing route. The procedural significance is twofold and forward-looking. First, commencement: the entire IP Act 2026 (including s.295) requires a commencement order under s.1(2) of that Act before any of its provisions take effect; as of 2026-05-30 the eISB/isbc commencement page records 'Whole Act: Not yet commenced' and 'SIs made under the Act: None'. Second, once commenced, the amended s.6B(4) and s.16A(1) feed automatically into the existing naturalisation procedure: an applicant lodges a s.15 (or s.16) application with the Minister for Justice via Immigration Service Delivery (ISD), whose officers calculate reckonable residence under the (then-amended) s.16A; for s.6A conditional-jus-soli birth claims the parental-residence reckoning under the (then-amended) s.6B is applied. No statutory appeal exists against a naturalisation refusal — challenge is by judicial review in the High Court only, with the Minister bound by the Mallak reasons-duty. The Foreign Births Register (descent) is administered separately by the Department of Foreign Affairs; s.295 does not touch FBR procedure.

This route tracks the conforming amendments that the International Protection Act 2026 (No. 9 of 2026), section 295 makes to the reckonable-residence machinery of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956 (No. 26 of 1956). The IP Act 2026 was enacted (signed) on 22 April 2026. Section 295 is titled 'Amendment of Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956' and operates in two limbs: s.295(a) amends INCA 1956 s.6B(4)(b) and s.6B(4)(c) and inserts a new s.6B(4)(d) (the jus-soli/birth reckonable-residence exclusion list under s.6A); s.295(b) makes parallel amendments to INCA 1956 s.16A(1)(b) and s.16A(1)(c) and inserts a new s.16A(1)(d) (the naturalisation reckonable-residence exclusion list). The newly inserted paragraphs (d) reference Regulation (EU) 2024/1348 (recast EU Asylum Procedures Regulation) and cross-refer to Part 11 and sections 214, 215 and 236 of the IP Act 2026 itself. Critically, s.295 does NOT amend s.19 (revocation), s.21 (renunciation), s.11 (adoption) or s.11A (DAHR/AHR), and it does not create any new acquisition mechanism — it is a pure cross-reference/conforming overlay onto the existing s.6B(4) and s.16A(1) exclusion lists.

The decision-making and legislative authorities engaged by this route are distinct and must not be normalised into one. The Oireachtas (legislature) enacted the IP Act 2026 (No. 9 of 2026), signed into law 22 April 2026. The Minister for Justice holds the power to make the commencement order under s.1(2) that would bring s.295 into operation, and is the decision-maker for naturalisation and revocation (functions transferred from the Minister for Foreign Affairs by S.I. 418/2011), administered operationally through Immigration Service Delivery (ISD). The Department of Foreign Affairs / Minister for Foreign Affairs administers the Foreign Births Register under INCA 1956 s.27 and is unaffected by s.295. The Law Reform Commission maintains the revisedacts.lawreform.ie consolidation, and the Office of the Attorney General / Office of the Houses of the Oireachtas (eISB) maintains the effects table that flags s.295 as a pending (uncommenced) amendment. The substantive EU instrument referenced in the inserted paragraphs — Regulation (EU) 2024/1348 — is an act of the European Parliament and Council.