§ 35. Mr. STEWARTasked the Prime Minister whether the Irish Free State will be empowered to issue certificates of naturalisation to foreign applicants; whether such certificates, if issued, will apply to Irish local nationalisation only or will be valid for citizenship in the British Empire as a whole; and whether the Home Office will have any jurisdiction in the matter?
§ Mr. CHURCHILLIt is intended that when the Irish Free State attains the constitutional status contemplated for it in the Treaty between Great Britain and Ireland, it shall have the power possessed by the self-governing dominions mentioned in the British Nationality and Status of Aliens Act, 1914, to adopt Part II of that Act, and thereupon, if it thinks right, to grant under the conditions specified therein, which are the same as those prevailing in Great Britain, certificates conferring Imperial naturalisation. The Home Office will have no jurisdiction in the matter.
§ Mr. STEWARTCan the Irish Free State make British citizens of Lenin and Trotsky if they find Russia too hot for them?
§ Mr. CHURCHILLI think that is covered by the answer I have already given.