Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 16 February 2023
339. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Justice whether he agrees that the rules for applying citizenship should be amended in order to treat time spent living in Northern Ireland as equivalent to time in the Republic of Ireland, in other words enabling a migrant to qualify for citizenship on the basis of time spent living in Northern Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7858/23]
View answerThe granting of Irish citizenship through naturalisation is governed by the provisions of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956, as amended, and all applications are processed in line with the eligibility criteria as set out under the Act.
Section 15 of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956, as amended, provides that the Minister for Justice may, in his absolute discretion, grant an application for a certificate of naturalisation provided certain statutory conditions are fulfilled.
The conditions include that the applicant must have had a period of one year's continuous residence in the State immediately before the date of application and, during the eight years immediately preceding that period, have had a total residence in the State amounting to four years, and that the applicant intends in good faith to continue to reside in the State after naturalisation. There are no plans to legislate to revise these requirement along the lines proposed by the Deputy.
