Migration and Citizenship: Statements
Dail Éireann — 2026-09-30
============================================================

Malcolm Byrne (FF), Wicklow-Wexford

I am strongly in support of any individual who wants to come to Ireland, make a home here, work and contribute to our society. I count many such among my friends in my community. People who have come from Europe and beyond have found a home in my home town of Gorey, which is a wonderful place to live. They have made a life here. When they want to become a citizen, they are quite keen to contribute. They want to make sure they can go out and vote. They get involved in local community organisations. We need to recognise that.
Colleagues talked about different sectors of the economy. International workers now make up more than 15% of the HSE workforce and 23% of our nurses and midwives, with 42% of our doctors having been trained internationally. In the hospitality sector, 45% of workers come from overseas.
With me being from Wexford, it will not surprise the House that my first summer job was picking strawberries. It is really difficult now to get any Irish person to work in the horticulture sector. If we look at the proportions from the most recent Teagasc study, which is nearly ten years old, it found that 77% of those in horticulture came from overseas. For those at the baseline, in other words, picking the fruit and vegetables, it was 87%. In all sectors of the economy, from high-value workers to making sure that we have fruit and vegetables on our tables, we are seeing people coming to this country to contribute.
Citizenship should not be given away easily, of that I have no doubt. There have to be standards expected of anyone who comes here. We have to have what is called a firm but fair immigration policy. However, fairness is needed to recognise those who want to come to Ireland and who have contributed towards this country.
I have a particular concern about the proposal to extend the residency period from five to eight years. I have constituents and friends who may already have started in the system or have not yet applied for citizenship and often have Irish partners. They are very concerned about these proposals. I welcomed the step forward when the Taoiseach said that for those who are already here, the extension to eight years will not be implemented. I ask the Minister of State to clarify that. It would send out an important message to those already in Ireland if the five-year requirement were to continue. Our student population, particularly the research population, can benefit enormously from bringing in international strength from around the world.
I happen to be very proud of my party's tradition of being a welcoming and inclusive party. There are people who are not Irish who have taken a very active role in my party. It was founded by people with surnames like De Valera, Lemass, and Markievicz. This is a very clear recognition of the contribution of people from various backgrounds to the foundation of the State. While we need to have a proper immigration policy, it needs to be fair and to recognise the contribution of migrants to our shores.

---

Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted.

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