Kelly: Eight-year citizenship rule is performative politics from Minister O’Callaghan
Kelly: Eight-year citizenship rule is performative politics from Minister O’Callaghan - The Labour Party
Labour justice spokesperson Alan Kelly TD has called on Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan to drop plans to increase the residency requirement for Irish citizenship from five to eight years, describing the proposal as performative politics that will do little to improve Ireland’s immigration system.
Deputy Kelly said:
“Minister O’Callaghan needs to explain what problem an eight-year residency requirement is actually designed to solve. Increasing the wait for citizenship from five years to eight years looks far more like an exercise in political positioning than a serious attempt to improve our immigration system.
“People who have lived here for years, who work here, pay taxes here, raise their families here and contribute to their communities should have a clear and reasonable pathway to becoming Irish citizens. Citizenship is an important part of successful integration. This could have a real negative impact on our ability as a nation to attract workers in critical areas.
“We in Labour have no difficulty with reasonable language or civic requirements. In our manifesto, we supported providing free English and Irish language, civics and cultural courses to migrants as part of a proper national integration strategy.
“Minister O’Callaghan should drop the arbitrary eight-year proposal and focus instead on building a citizenship system that encourages integration, participation and a genuine sense of belonging. Ireland needs serious immigration policy, not performative politics.”