Ireland's Foreign Births Register and Generational Cap
Ireland's 1956 Nationality and Citizenship Act established that children born abroad to Irish citizens could claim citizenship by registering on the Foreign Births Register. But it imposed a practical generational limit: grandchildren of Irish-born citizens could claim citizenship, but great-grandchildren could not — unless each intervening generation registered before the next was born. The system created a soft cap at approximately two generations from the Irish-born ancestor.
Millions in the American and British diaspora retained access to Irish citizenship through the grandparent rule, while more distant connections were effectively cut off.
Ireland's system became the European template for balancing diaspora ties with meaningful connection. The grandparent cap is now widely seen as a reasonable boundary.
Italy's new law explicitly mirrors the Irish model — capping eligibility at the grandparent generation. But Italy's shift is far more disruptive because the previous system had no generational limit at all, meaning millions more people lose a right they previously held.