British passport, Irish christening?

[Babydrama2022]

Baby is half Irish, half British. British passport. Currently living in England.

Baby is due to be christened in Ireland shortly, but we have concerns the father may at a later date refuse to return the Baby to British mother. Either refusing to fly home or flying back to Ireland at a later date.

Father under the impression the Irish christening overrules British citizenship and mother would have no help in getting Baby returned.
This sounds bonkers to me?

Any help?

Definitely not true! I just applied for my baby's passport (Irish) and you must submit BC. It actually says it will not accept baptism certificates. Both guardians have to give consent too.

The Irish passport process is incredibly frustrating, long winded, prone to hold ups and a complete pain by the way!

I’m surprised both parents have to give their consent.
The child is Irish by birth, it’s not something that parents can give their consent to. It just is.

My dcs are also dual citizen and their dad did the British passport as he was British, I did mine. There has never been any consent to give just proving our respective citizenship for the respective passports 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

We had to both give consent for the Irish passport but only one of us needed to consent for the British one. I agree that nationality just is, by virtue of the parent's nationality. My experience of passports has been different though.

Baby is an Irish citizen regardless of holding an Irish passport. Father can't apply for an Irish passport without mother's permission. Father can get the ferry without a passport afaik.

Baptism is nothing to do with Irish passports. Look up the requirements for the evidence required to apply for an Irish one. Baby is entitled btw.
But maybe a planned baptism is a reason to have permission to take child to Ireland.
Ireland and UK are in the common travel area, you don't need passports / visas to travel either way.
And not that it's relevant to the OP and risk of abduction but you do not need mums permission for babies Irish passport, they are already an Irish citizen and entitled to one by virtue ok dads nationality.

All guardians' permission required for passport. Baby is already a citizen from moment of birth.

The child is an Irish citizen and is entitled to an Irish passport. I have one and so does my son. It really was really not complicated at all, so I do not understand some pp. Citizenship and passports are unrelated to baptism and none of that is connected to residency. If your friend is the primary custodian, Irish courts would respect that.

What happens if you can’t have both guardians there? Let’s say you are no contact, one parent has immigrated to Australia.one parent has decided to be difficult and refuses to turn up.

Many children have no contact with one of their parents, for many reasons. I’m surprised that this would be enough to prevent a child to get a passport.

You cannot get an Irish passport with a baptism cert.

Is he on the birthcert? If not then he can do nothing at all. If he is then he needs both his and her signature etc to get an Irish passport. Im not sure though with flying Aer Lingus because they allow a child to fly with just the birth cert and if he is on there then he can fly here with her. Sometimes but not all times you are asked for proof of the other parents consent to fly but it depends on the day and the person, no actual rule.

A letter and affidavitt from the second parent if named on the birthcert to allow a renewal or to travel. In the case of no second parent named the mother gets an affidavitt signed to say she is sole guardian and you can get the passport that way.

It’s not complicated but there are huge delays for children who already have another nationality at present. I just checked the website and it says to allow 2 years for Foreign Birth Registration

You can hold an Irish and British passport, not sure if you know that. Not all countries allow dual nationality, but UK does. I'd say get the British passport and find a solicitor to prepare as best you can. Then your learning curve won't be quite so steep if it does go wrong.

Baptism cert means very very little and certainly does not override citzenship/passport.

@Babydrama2022 how old is the baby? Do they have a formally agreed contact arrangement?

Your friend needs legal advice asap about getting contact formalised via the courts. For a young baby/child it may be they can only be separated from their mother for short periods.

Also tell her to keep the baby’s passport secure.

One option is she takes the baby to Ireland for the Christening and then returns home with the baby. Not ideal but better than handing a baby over.

Foreign birth registration is not the same as getting a passport though. We had the passport a good 6 months, maybe a year before the foreign birth stuff was done.

Foreign birth registration does not apply here since the child is already an Irish citizen

As other posters have pointed out no passport is needed to take the baby to Ireland because of the common travel area. A birth cert can be used on the plane and usually nothing at all is required if taking a ferry.

To get a passport the witnessed signature of all parents/ guardians is required. If a parent or guardian is unwilling/unable /uncontactable then a court order is required to get the passport.

The mother could also at this point just say no to the christening full stop until everything else has been worked out. It is water over the head of a child and a party for family afterwards, nothing more nothing less.

The passport is a red herring as he can bring the baby to Ireland without one as it is part of the Common Travel Area. He just needs to get a copy of the birth cert and go by ferry or with Aer Lingus (Ryanair requires passports).

OP I would strongly advise your friend get legal advice fast, and refuse to let the baby out of her sight in the interim.

It's worth noting that he doesn't need any ID at all to travel to Ireland with the child.

Ferry or fly to Belfast then just drive over the border. There is no checks.

Yes you can. You do not need a baptism certificate.

That is what I said. You read my post wrong.

All of my DC we're born in Ireland and christened in Ireland. At no stage during baptism ceremony were passports asked for or discussed because there is no legal connection, one is a religious ceremony and the other is a legal matter. Applying for an Irish passport is tedious. Both parents have to present themselves to a local police station to have their identities witnessed. If a parent wants to apply for a child's passport on their own they have to have a legal document witnessed and stamped explaining why. If both names are on birth cert this can be more complicated in order to prevent one parent abducting a child.

My ex is no contact. My dc couldn't get a passport until they turned 18.I