It gives me a great pleasure to be able live in this awe-inspiringly beautiful and peaceful country. Ireland has been blessed with stunning landscapes, people and culture.

Thousands of people move to this gorgeous island every year permanently and call it their home. The immigrant population bring with them high level of work ethics. They work hard every day to contribute towards development of this country. From hospitality sector to highly skilled jobs, immigrants play an extra ordinary role in all sectors of economy.

However, most of these people go through a long and tiring process to get their immigration permissions. And when it comes to applying for citizenship after living here legally for years, it takes ages to process their applications.

I understand that the 2019 High Court judgement (Jones case) and COVID-19 restrictions played a part in extending already long processing times.

Honourable Minister of Justice has been working very hard to make the whole experience of dealing with department a pleasant one. She introduced a temporary process of swearing the oath of fidelity to the nation by means of sworn affidavit during the COVID-19 restrictions to keep the process moving. This process has helped thousands of applicants and has been working effectively.

Recently, this temporary process has been ceased. All successful applicants will now have to attend in person ceremonies in Killarney. Being able to take an oath of fidelity to the nation with fellow citizens is an experience of lifetime and a memorable experience for everyone. These ceremonies are held in Killarney Convention Centre, Killarney, twice a year in June and December.

However, there is a massive backlog of applications in the system. Honourable Minister of Justice confirmed on 10th of May 2022 that as of end of April 2022, there are 26,934 applications in the system. Killarney Convention Centre has a capacity of around 5,500 people. Which means only around 11,000 people can attend these ceremonies each year. With current processing times, it will take over 2 years for each application to complete the whole process.

We would like to request Honourable minister of justice, Madam Helen McEntee to please introduce more citizenship ceremonies each year to accommodate more people.

Let me also take this opportunity to thank the Honourable minister of justice, who has worked incredibly hard over the last couple of years to streamline the whole process.

Thank you

SR