A person born abroad to at least one Native Irish parent is Irish by Descent. They are eligible for citizenship and hold most constitutional rights. Voting rights in constitutional referenda for diaspora members are restricted to those born on the island of Ireland of Irish parentage. Irish by Descent persons may return to Ireland and, upon establishing residence, access the full rights of Native Irish persons.
The state has an active duty not merely to recognise Irish by Descent status in law but to make the exercise of that status genuinely possible in practice — through the homecoming programmes established in Article 120, through the land restoration programme, through the Gaeltacht restoration stream, and through every other mechanism by which the relationship between the diaspora and the nation can be made real rather than merely nominal. A right that exists only on paper is not a right. It is a promise waiting to be kept. This constitution keeps it.