Naturalisation and Citizenship: Statements Seanad Éireann — 2026-09-24 ============================================================ Cathal Byrne (FG), Cultural and Educational Panel The Minister of State is most welcome to the Seanad Chamber today. I commend him and his officials in the Department of justice on bringing forward some changes to how the citizenship procedures, processes and laws work. I think these are changes for the better, and I commend the Minister of State and the work he has done in the whole area of temporary protection, the closing down of IPAS centres, the establishment of deportation flights and the speeding up of the processing of applications for asylum. It is very important the core idea underpinning that system is the same as what underpins this system, which is that we must have a firm, fair and effective immigration system. Part of that is ensuring the value of Irish citizenship is protected into the next generation. That speaks to a lot of the reforms the Minister of State is looking to bring in here which, in my view, are about ensuring that citizenship, while not being difficult to obtain, is something that is cherished and comes with a set of criteria clearly laid out for anybody to see in order that were he or she to want to become an Irish citizen, the rules are there. It is a good thing to extend the length of time an individual has to have lived in Ireland from five years to eight years to apply for citizenship. It is fair and reasonable to expect anybody who applies for Irish citizenship to have proficiency in the language of this country. It is important there are clear provisions and clarifications brought to the citizenship rules in respect of how an individual can have his or her citizenship revoked. It is important legal certainty exists in that area. While it is a rare occasion on which a person's citizenship is revoked, the institutions of the State must retain the ability to revoke citizenship in those areas. In the provisions the Minister of State has put forward and the legislation coming before us, I note it would only be revoked when it is considered necessary in the interest of public policy, public order or national security. It is important we have that certainty about what criteria can be used to revoke citizenship. Perhaps, when looking at this legislation, there also needs to be greater certainty around long-term residence and the rules for people who have lived here for 20 or 30 years on long-term residency visas and their ability to apply for citizenship. It is important to have clear certainty on that in the new scheme of rules and regulations to be brought before us shortly. I commend the Minister of State to make reforms in this area. The people I speak to want certainty about citizenship and the process around it. The changes the Minister of State is bringing forward are a move in the right direction. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-09-24/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:50+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-09-24