A total of 5,000 people from over 130 countries around the world have obtained Irish citizenship in ceremonies held on February 12 and 14.
The final ceremony of naturalisation occurred at Dublin’s Convention Centre and the 5,000 people received their Irish citizenship documents across six ceremonies, Schengen.News reports.
I know how much becoming an Irish citizen means to each and every person attending these ceremonies. Becoming a citizen means more than receiving an Irish Passport, it is about belonging, knowing that Ireland is your home and becoming truly part of our society.
According to Irish Central, the Citizenship Division has increased its processing applications capacity, from 12,000 applications to over 20,000 in 2023. In 2024, the Irish authorities processed a maximum of 31,000 applications. It is estimated that the time it takes to process an application has dropped from 15 months in 2023 to eight months in 2024.
Minister O’Callaghan Calls on New Citizens to Offer Their Contributions for a Better Society
In his speech, the Minister urged new citizens to contribute to the society in hopes of making Ireland a better place to live in.
I call on all our new citizens to actively contribute to the wellbeing of our society and collectively, we can make Ireland a better place for everyone. As a fellow citizen, I also know the true value to our society and culture that migration has brought – helping to enrich our towns, villages and communities and making them more diverse, vibrant and dynamic places to live, study and work.
Several of these individuals came to Ireland years ago, with some of them coming for education purposes, others for work but ultimately remaining in the country and becoming Irish citizens.
Such is the case of Barbara Franzonidaileira, who came from Brazil to Ireland about 15 years ago. Now she works for an energy company and one of the first issues she had in Ireland was the climate, which she eventually got used to.
I’m very excited. I’ve been waiting for this for a long time. I didn’t know much about Ireland…I just came over to study, to learn English, and then I just fell in love with it…the people are amazing, and really welcoming. It’s all been overwhelming… it’s just a confirmation that this is my home.
Majority of Newly Naturalised Irish Citizens Previously Held Indian Citizenship
As RTE News reveals, the top ten nationalities with the most applicants for Irish citizenship are Indians, who represent 18.2 per cent of the total, or 914 applicants.
The second to follow were applicants from the United Kingdom (614, representing 12.2 per cent), followed by Brazil (531), Romania (380), Poland (360), Philippines (241), South Africa (210), Nigeria (205), Pakistan (191) and United States (191).
Ireland’s Department of Justice has revealed that a total of 203 citizenship ceremonies have occurred since 2011 and people from over 180 countries have been granted citizenship since then. In total, it is estimated that over 200,000 people have become Irish citizens between 2011 and 2025.
