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UK court rules against Derry woman in Irish identity case UK to face questions over Northern Ireland citizenship laws
(about 4 hours later)
People born in Northern Ireland are legally British, unless they register a change in citizenship, even if they identify as Irish under rights granted in the Good Friday agreement, a UK court has ruled. Ireland is to press the British government to review domestic laws on citizenship in Northern Ireland after a UK court ruled that people born in the region are legally British citizens even if they identify as Irish.
The case involved Emma DeSouza, a Derry-born British citizen who in 2015 applied for a residence card for her US-born husband, Jake. She made the application identifying herself as an Irish citizen. The Home Office rejected the application on the grounds that it considered DeSouza a British citizen, and said the only way it could deal with the case was for her to “renounce her status as a British citizen”. Simon Coveney, the Irish foreign affairs minister, said he would raise the case of Emma DeSouza with the Northern Ireland secretary on Tuesday.
However, a first-tier immigration and asylum tribunal ruled in her favour in February last year, saying that under the terms of the Good Friday agreement people of Northern Ireland had a unique right to identify in multiple ways. He is concerned that British law is not “consistent” with the unique rights enshrined in the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement peace deal that allow anyone born in Northern Ireland to be Irish, British, or both.
The Home Office challenged the ruling, arguing that not all the contents of the agreement had been incorporated into British law and therefore the rights in the Good Friday agreement did not trump those in the 1981 British Nationality Act. Citizenship + Identity provisions critical to the GFA. UK Govt has pledged to review rules around citizenship and deliver a long term solution consistent with GFA. An outcome is urgently needed and I will raise this again with Secretary of State for NI tomorrow @EmmandJDeSouza
The Irish Department of Foreign Affairs said Ireland had amended its domestic law after the 1998 peace deal to deliver the agreed rights. Questions will now be asked as to why UK domestic law was not amended likewise. His intervention is not the first in the case of Emma and Jake DeSouza, who lost an immigration case in Belfast on Monday.
In its appeal on 10 September, Tony McGlennan QC, for the Home Office, argued the initial tribunal had made a “fundamental and egregious error”. US-born Jake had applied for residency rights in Northern Ireland under EU freedom of movement rules that allow third country spouses of EU citizens to live with their husbands or wives in an EU member state without going through national immigration.
DeSouza had held British citizenship since birth “so she is not exercising treaty rights” and therefore did not fit into the category of being an EEA national. The Home Office rejected the application on the grounds that it considered DeSouza a British citizen, and said the only way it could deal with the case was for her to “renounce her status as a British citizen”.
The high court in Belfast ruled in favour of the Home Office on Monday. She argued that she was Irish, always carried an Irish passport and had the right to be legally recognised as Irish, albeit living in a UK jurisdiction.
De Souza vowed to keep fighting for her right to remain Irish without having to first renounce her British citizenship. She said she was “deeply disappointed” by the decision that “ruled against the Good Friday Agreement” and vowed to try and get a fresh hearing in the court of appeal. She initially won her case at a first-tier immigration and asylum tribunal which ruled in her favour in February last year, saying that under the terms of the Good Friday agreement people of Northern Ireland had a unique right to identify in multiple ways.
She said she was “deeply disheartened” that the tribunal ruled that she was “actually a British citizen” and until she accepted this she could not access her rights as an Irish citizen and EU citizen in Northern Ireland. The Home Office won an appeal on Monday in Belfast prompting a wave of local protests that nationality rights in the Good Friday Agreement were not being delivered in British law.
The judges, Justice Lane and Judge Rintoul, president of the upper tribunal, concluded that by birth DeSouza was British: “As a matter of law, Mrs DeSouza is at present a British citizen in the current time.”
In their ruling Lane and Rintoul, said there was nothing in domestic legislation “giving effect” to the peace deal, which gives the people of Northern Ireland the right to identify as British or Irish or both.
DeSouza vowed to keep fighting for her right to remain Irish without having to first renounce her British citizenship. She said she was “deeply disappointed” by the decision that “ruled against the Good Friday Agreement” and vowed to try and get a fresh hearing in the court of appeal.
She said she was “deeply disheartened” the tribunal ruled that she was “actually a British citizen” and until she accepted this she could not access her rights as an Irish citizen and EU citizen in Northern Ireland.
“This is not in line with the spirit, or the purpose or the intent of the Good Friday agreement,” she said.“This is not in line with the spirit, or the purpose or the intent of the Good Friday agreement,” she said.
De Souza had argued that she should not have to renounce her British citizenship, contending she never considered herself British and was entitled to identify as Irish under the GFA. The Irish Department of Foreign Affairs said Ireland had amended its domestic law after the 1998 peace deal to deliver the agreed rights. Questions will now be asked as to why UK domestic law was not amended likewise.
But the judges, Justice Lane, and Judge Rintoul, president of the Upper Tribunal concluded: “As a matter of law, Mrs de Souza is, at present a British citizen in the current time,” DeSouza had argued that she should not have to renounce her British citizenship, contending she never considered herself British and was entitled to identify as Irish under the GFA.
In their ruling Justice Lane, and Judge Rintoul, president of the Upper Tribunal also said “nothing in this decision brings into question the past and continuing importance and constitutional significance of the Belfast Agreement [Good Friday Agreement (GFA)] to the people of Ireland and the UK”. The court’s ruling centres on whether the tribunal had earlier made an error of law, not on whether the law delivered the Good Friday agreement or not.
Their ruling centres on whether the tribunal had earlier made an error of law, not on whether the law delivered the Good Friday agreement or not.
They found that international treaties such as the GFA were entered into under royal prerogative but that this prerogative “does not extend” to altering domestic law without the “intervention of parliament”.They found that international treaties such as the GFA were entered into under royal prerogative but that this prerogative “does not extend” to altering domestic law without the “intervention of parliament”.
“Quite simply, a treaty is not part of English law unless and until it has been incorporated into the law by legislation,” the ruling said, and de Souza or others could not derive rights or be denied rights by an international treaty.They said the Northern Ireland Act of 1998 which gave effect to certain provisions in the Good Friday agreement did not touch on self-identification and nationality and this “was entirely deliberate on the part of the United Kingdom”. “Quite simply, a treaty is not part of English law unless and until it has been incorporated into the law by legislation,” the ruling said, and DeSouza or others could not derive rights or be denied rights by an international treaty.The Home Office said: “The Home Office is absolutely committed to upholding the Belfast [Good Friday] Agreement. We respect the right of the people of Northern Ireland to choose to identify as British or Irish or both and their right to hold both British and Irish citizenship.
The Home Office said: “The Home Office is absolutely committed to upholding the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement. We respect the right of the people of Northern Ireland to choose to identify as British or Irish or both and their right to hold both British and Irish citizenship. “We are pleased that the upper tribunal agrees that UK nationality law is consistent with the Belfast Agreement.”
“We are pleased that the Upper Tribunal agrees that UK nationality law is consistent with the Belfast Agreement.”
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