Citizenship via a parent who is problematic

[SharpBlueQuark]

Hello! I have a somewhat unique situation, at least I think it is. I searched the forum and couldn't find anything similar, so apologies if this has been covered before.

In short, my father is Irish, born on the island of Ireland. I read that this automatically makes me an Irish citizen as well. However, to apply for an Irish passport I have to include my fathers birth certificate and his information. The problem is that I don't know his address or phone number. The bigger problem is that he disowned me for various reasons. Not officially, I'm not even sure if you can do that legally/officially, but you know how family matters go.

My question is, if/when I apply for an Irish passport based on my father being Irish, will my father be required to do anything, or be involved in the process in any way other than his information being included in my application? The reason I ask is twofold: If some poor soul at the passport office calls him to ask about me they're going to get an earful about how I'm a sorry piece of work and I'm no son of his, and then he'll call my mother and possibly a few other family members and raise a ruckus with them about me having the government call him and so on. Even if he so much as gets a notice in the mail about me getting a passport based on him, he'll raise a ruckus with the family, especially my mother, and I would very much like to avoid that if at all possible.

Why don't I call the Irish embassy and ask them? Well now, interesting story time: (tldr- got a yes and a no for answers) A while ago I was having dinner with some friends and I told them about my predicament and I said that I wanted to call the Irish embassy to ask them directly because I was sure the embassy would be able to give me an answer, but I was afraid to call because I was worried the answer would be 'yes', and then I wouldn't be able to get my Irish passport, at least not the way things are now. After that conversation I did work up the courage to call and the very nice lady on the phone said 'no', my father would not be contacted if I apply for an Irish passport. Well, one of my awesome friends from dinner also called without telling me, and next time we met up he very gently broke the news to me that when he called the Irish embassy, the person he spoke to had said 'yes', that my father would be contacted when I applied for a passport. So we have two conflicting answers from the embassy. I'll feel like a real dolt if I call the embassy and ask them again, so that's why I'm asking here.

If anybody has any knowledge or experience regarding this I would be very grateful to hear it.

[Vadrar]

Are you over 18? If so, I’d be seriously surprised if your parent is contacted unless they are included as a witness.

I’d try submitting with ‘Not known’ as his address and include an affidavit of estrangement.

You’ll need his birth certificate though- do you have a copy, or can you get one?

[SharpBlueQuark]

Are you over 18? If so, I’d be seriously surprised if your parent is contacted unless they are included as a witness.

I’d try submitting with ‘Not known’ as his address and include an affidavit of estrangement.

You’ll need his birth certificate though- do you have a copy, or can you get one?

Yes, I'm very much over 18 and my father definitely wouldn't be included as a witness.

The affidavit of estrangement is a good idea, I will look into doing that. Thank you for the idea.

I don't have a copy of my fathers birth certificate, but I read that birth certificates are public records in Ireland and can be obtained without too much difficulty. There seem to be quite a few organizations offering assistance obtaining records for things like this and I will likely have one of them get it for me.