Irish born child with Chinese Parents

[osiobhain]

I am inquiring for a friend of mine:

Chinese couple have a 1 yr old child born in Ireland. They have been here on a student Visa for 5 yrs and want the child to have an Irish Passport.
Does anyone know what the conditions are? The child has a Chinese Passport right now. What do they have to prove? How do they go about it?
They are not concerned whether they have residency or naturalisation themselves, but eager that their child has an Irish Passport or Dual Passport.
How do they go ab out this? Does anyone know the laws governing this? Will the fact that they have a student Visa go against them? Since the law has changed they have been working on their student visa.
Any help or pointing in the right direction would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Siobhain

[RobinLondon]

I don't believe that the child is entitled to Irish citizenship. This is from Wikipedia:

Anyone born in the island of Ireland, its islands or territorial seas on or before the 31 December 2004 is automatically an Irish citizen unless one parent was entitled to diplomatic immunity at the time of birth. This was prescribed by the constitution of Ireland and the legislation in place at that time. The virtually undiluted application of Jus soli (the right to citizenship of the country of birth) by Ireland, was ended by an amendment to the constitution in 2004 which permitted new laws restricting the application of the Jus soli principle. The Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 2004 followed. This came into force on 1st January 2005. On and after that date any person born on the island of Ireland is automatically entitled to Irish citizenship if at least one of that person's parents is either:

* an Irish citizen (or someone entitled to be an Irish citizen);
* a British citizen;
* a resident of the island of Ireland who is entitled to reside in either the Republic or in Northern Ireland without any time limit on that residence; or
* a legal resident in Ireland for three out of the 4 years preceding the child's birth (However time spent as a student or as an asylum seeker does not count for this purpose).

Persons born on the island of Ireland, neither of whose parents fall into any of those categories are generally not automatically entitled to Irish citizenship.