Naturalisation and Citizenship: Statements
Seanad Éireann — 2026-09-24
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Sarah O'Reilly (AON), Agricultural Panel

I welcome this debate today. I think it is great. I will start by saying that citizenship is not a right afforded to people and there is not an automatic entitlement to it. It should be earned. The proposed changes to citizenship rules have made people sit up and realise that up until now we essentially put zero restrictions on acquiring citizenship, and that should not be. Irish citizenship should be valued. Our requirements are laughable compared with other countries. If you want to apply for citizenship in Sweden you must have eight years of residency. It is 12 years of residency in India and 15 years in Nigeria with no criminal record in that time. There has been criticism of the new proposals but they should be viewed through a positive lens both for the benefit of those applying and for integration. People need to have an interest in Ireland and not just in the value of an Irish passport. If you cannot speak the language of a country, if you know nothing about its culture or traditions and you cannot financially support yourself, you have no business applying for citizenship. One of the proposals is that people demonstrate they can support themselves and not become an unreasonable burden on the State. This is only right and reasonable. I would never expect to move to America or Australia and immediately expect access to social housing and welfare. Aontú has raised this issue and suggested language checks for citizenship. A few weeks later, the Government is running with the idea and I welcome that.

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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