Migration and Citizenship: Statements
Dail Éireann — 2026-09-30
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Shane Moynihan (FF), Dublin Mid-West

I welcome the opportunity to speak in this debate on migration and citizenship. One of my biggest regrets of the past few years is that in the social media age there is a tendency to run immediately to the black or white. Immigration policy has fallen into a trap whereby there is little nuance afforded to it in public debate and everything gets into lumped into one bucket or the other. A lot of the discussion that happened during 2024 and 2025 characterises that problem in particular. It is incumbent on us, as public representatives, to strive to ensure that there is nuance in our discussions on the various aspects of immigration policy.
I represent Dublin Mid-West, possibly one of the most multicultural constituencies in the State. I attend events hosted by new communities in my constituency as an honoured guest and am privileged to do so. I am very proud to be able to represent many of those people, many of whom have acquired citizenship. One of the most touching things a public representative can get is an email from one of those new citizens saying that they had their citizenship ceremony last week and thanking us for being part of their journey. That reminds us of the importance of citizenship in and of itself. Some aspects of the reforms that are being put forward are welcome, including the opportunity for people to articulate what they have learned and integrated in terms of our values and our civic system. Honouring both of our national languages is something that we should be celebrating as well. However, like other speakers, I would say there are people in our State at the moment who came here and who started on the citizenship journey. They are very far along that journey and their circumstances need to be taken into account. I would welcome discussion around the extension from five to eight years to see what is the basis for it, without prejudice, necessarily, but to understand the reasoning behind it.
There is one aspect of this that I want to draw attention to, which is the importance of integration and of funding streams like the new communities fund that allow for the integration of new communities. I want to pay tribute, in particular, to our sports clubs which are at the forefront of integrating new communities into our society. In my own son's soccer club, a number of the coaches coaching teams are people who were not born in Ireland but came here to make their home. This is a classic example of the integration that we need to promote. However, it is important that we in this House remember that integration does not just happen; it is something that needs to be fostered and led by the State and incentivised through support for community groups.
Finally, on our immigration system, delays in the processing of visas and the paperwork and bureaucracy associated with that needs to be addressed. The system needs to be resourced adequately. I know of one bus company in this country that has had to go abroad to hire bus drivers but because of the delays in getting visas for those drivers, it is not able to provide the level of service required.
Again, I emphasise the point that there are many nuances to the discussion around immigration, citizenship and migration. It is important that in our debates on it, we do not try to other the other side but try to engage with those particular aspects of nuance.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-09-30/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-10-05T01:00:59+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-09-30