They will include increasing the residency duration requirement before application from five years to eight as well as introducing self-sufficiency criteria such as an income requirement and barring those who have been in receipt of some social welfare payments. <\/p>\n
However, two Coalition sources said it was likely that measure would apply to unemployment benefits and some housing supports rather than the likes of maternity benefit or children\u2019s allowance. <\/p>\n
Reforms will also introduce language requirements with applicants required to have proficiency in Irish or English. The Irish language and its use in society will also form part of a new obligation to show an understanding of civic life here. <\/p>\n
[\u00a0New rules for Irish citizenship: How will they work?<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n Minister of State for migration Colm Brophy<\/a> told The Irish Times the Coalition believed the changes were reflective of what most people felt should be in place for someone seeking citizenship.<\/p>\n \u201cIt gives people an opportunity to fully integrate,\u201d he said, also saying the reforms put in place \u201cthings that help with integration\u201d. <\/p>\n O\u2019Callaghan told reporters at the Fianna F\u00e1il<\/a> think-in in Tullamore, Co Offaly<\/a>, on Monday his intention was to restrain the growth in the number of people granted citizenship. <\/p>\n \u201cI do need to take into account the very significant increase in the numbers of people who have applied for citizenship,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n \u201cFor example, last year there were 25,000 people who were granted citizenship. It\u2019s a wonderful occasion. I\u2019ve been to the ceremonies<\/a>. They\u2019re very emotional. They\u2019re great occasions. <\/p>\n \u201cBut I do also need to reflect on what the rules are in other countries, because it\u2019s only going to go in one direction. I want to see more citizens but I\u2019m trying to restrain the level of growth in that number.\u201d<\/p>\n He also confirmed that time spent in Ireland by Ukrainian refugees would not qualify as part of the required eight years.<\/p>\n A joint statement from seven groups working with migrants and refugees called on the Coalition to scrap the proposals, saying these were \u201csimply aimed at making Ireland a hostile place for migrants who contribute so much to our society\u201d. <\/p>\n \u201cCitizenship supports integration, belonging and participation. These proposals, if implemented, do the opposite,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n The groups said it was likely that refugees and migrant labourers would remain in Ireland and contribute to communities for many years. \u201cKeeping people in an extended and uncertain status does not help integration \u2013 it delays it,\u201d they said<\/p>\n Labour Party<\/a> justice spokesman Alan Kelly<\/a> dismissed the proposed reforms as \u201cperformative politics\u201d that would do little to improve Ireland\u2019s immigration<\/a> system. <\/p>\n He called on O\u2019Callaghan to \u201cexplain what problem an eight-year residency requirement is actually designed to solve\u201d, saying people who had lived in Ireland for years and paid taxes while raising families and contributing to their communities should have a \u201creasonable pathway\u201d to citizenship. <\/p>\n Aont\u00fa<\/a> leader Peadar T\u00f3ib\u00edn<\/a> said the Government was following his party\u2019s manifesto and enacting changes \u201cmonths after Aont\u00fa called for them\u201d. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Recipients of maternity benefit and children\u2019s allowance are unlikely to be barred from applying for Irish citizenship under…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":679465,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[40],"tags":[22055,49,9,10,92702,18,13,14,4771,6,19,56,17,26735,9171,11,12,15,16,19614,5,3171,50,7,8],"class_list":["post-679464","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-alan-kelly","tag-aontu","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-colm-brophy","tag-eire","tag-featured-news","tag-featurednews","tag-fianna-fail","tag-headlines","tag-ie","tag-immigration","tag-ireland","tag-jim-ocallaghan","tag-labour-party","tag-latest-news","tag-latestnews","tag-main-news","tag-mainnews","tag-migrant-crisis","tag-news","tag-offaly","tag-peadar-toibin","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117238366251244179","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/679464","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=679464"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/679464\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/679465"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=679464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=679464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=679464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Jim](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/CKMWXTX674BJOKU2BX3FER2OL4.jpg\")
Jim O’Callaghan says he wants to see more citizens, but is ‘trying to restrain the level of growth in that number’. Photograph: Niall Carson\/PA <\/p>\n