False passports charges too serious to be heard at District Court level, judge says

A judge has refused jurisdiction in the case of a foreign national woman and an Irish man charged with obtaining a false passport for a child who they said was their son which enabled the woman to obtain Irish citizenship for the child, herself and her subsequent children.

Judge Mary Dorgan was told the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) had consented to summary disposal of the matter at District Court level, but after hearing an outline of the State’s case from gardaí she refused jurisdiction, saying it was too serious to be dealt with in her court.

Det Garda Mark Hennebry, of the Garda National Immigration Bureau, outlined the background to the investigation in relation to the man (64) who is charged with three offences in relation to the alleged obtaining of a false Irish birth certificate and false Irish passport for a child.

The man is charged with providing false information at the Civil Registration Office, Adelaide Street, Cork, on July 29th, 2009 regarding a claim that he was the biological father of a seven-month-old boy.

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He is also charged with providing false information at Watercourse Road Garda station on July 29th, 2009 and Anglesea Street Garda station in Cork on June 30th, 2012 in relation to a passport application.

The woman (43) is charged with providing false information at the Civil Registration Office, Adelaide Street, Cork on July 29th, 2009 regarding the claim that the man was the biological father of her son.

She was charged with providing false information in relation to a passport application at Watercourse Road Garda Station on July 29th, 2009 and May 12th, 2017 and at Anglesea Street Garda station on June 30th, 2012.

Det Garda Hennebry said the State would allege that the man made a false declaration to registrar Anne Doran that he was the biological father of the infant, who he claimed to have had with his co-accused, in order to obtain a birth certificate.

He said the State would allege that once the two accused obtained the birth certificate, they proceeded to Watercourse Road Garda station and provided the false birth certificate to a member of An Garda Síochána to obtain a false Irish passport for the woman’s infant son.

Det Garda Hennebry said that the State would allege that the child was not entitled to an Irish passport or citizenship as the man was not his biological father and that the child’s actual father was the woman’s partner, who was also a foreign national.

Det Sgt Keith Cleary said the woman came to Ireland in March 2008 to study English on a permit and was either pregnant or became pregnant soon after and gave birth to a son in December 2008.

He said the woman accompanied the man to the Registry Office on July 29th, 2008 to obtain a false birth certificate for her son, claiming her co-accused was the child’s biological father and they then went to Watercourse Road Garda Station with the false birth certificate to apply for an Irish passport.

He said obtaining the false Irish passport for the child gave the woman an immigration advantage and she was later able to apply for an Irish passport for herself and her other children, who were all born in the State since, and that those passports entitled her to claim various social welfare entitlements.

He said it would be alleged that the woman and the child’s father, a foreign national who she subsequently married in Ireland, went to the Registry Office in Roscommon in 2017 and applied to have the man’s name entered on the child’s birth certificate as the child’s biological father. In order to do this, he said, they had to provide a DNA certificate confirming that her husband was the child’s biological father.

He said the state would argue that the alleged offences by the two accused “called into question the integrity” of the Irish birth certificate registration system and passport system” which would have serious repercussions for both.

After hearing an outline of the alleged facts and that the charges carry penalties of up to 10 years, Judge Dorgan said it was “a very serious matter”. She refused jurisdiction and remanded both accused on bail to appear in court again on January 10th next for the DPP’s directions.

She also made an order under the Children’s Act prohibiting the publication of any details that would identify the parties in the case which could lead to the identification of the child at the centre of the claims.