Migration and Citizenship: Statements
Dail Éireann — 2026-09-30
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Martin Kenny (SF), Sligo-Leitrim

Ireland has changed hugely in the past 40 years or more. As a country, we were a net exporter of labour until 40 years ago. Things have changed. Very large families were the norm and people died younger. We also had an economy which struggled. Now, much of that has changed and as society becomes more affluent, families get smaller and people live longer. Those two things mean that we are going to need an awful lot of labour to come from somewhere else, and that is similar across every country in Europe. We particularly need skilled labour for the manufacturing sector and other sectors in Ireland and it has to come here from elsewhere. That is a reality we have to get used to.
The problem we see in my office more than anything else is employers who have people here working when they try to get their visas renewed.
The whole system has changed. Whereas this issue was dealt with by a local garda in the local Garda station, which dealt with the immigration office, it has now moved to a portal. It might as well be in Mars because nobody can get through to anyone or talk to anybody. They send in their information, wait for months and then hear their information has been lost and they should resubmit their application. There have been cases in my constituency where Americans, Canadians and Australians - I am dealing with two Australian people who are working here - cannot get their visa renewed because the system is broken. The Minister of State is talking about making changes. If he gets the blinking thing that is there now right, we might have a chance of working it. I have spoken to senior people in the Department of justice to try to resolve this and they keep telling me they are putting more resources into it and doing this, that and the other to help. It is not working. That is the reality. The system needs to be got right and I ask the Minister of State to get it right.
As regards the other changes, particularly with regard to citizenship, no one is coming to me saying there is a big problem with citizenship. The problem is trying to apply for it and the difficulties applicants are having with doing so.
The entire debate on migration in this country and most other countries is being poisoned by fascism. All kinds of lies and nonsense are being spread the length and breadth of the country. It is feeding people's egos to make them believe that we Irish are better than everyone else. That is part of the problem we have here and I want the Minister of State to recognise that. Many of the people who are spreading these lies are connected to international fascists, parties such as Alternative for Germany and the National Front in Britain. These are the people who are poisoning the atmosphere and we need to spell that out and recognise it.
I am not saying changes do not need to be made - they absolutely do - but whatever changes are to be made, the first one has to be to get a system that actually works for people who are here and want to stay and contribute to society. They need to have a human being to talk to at the end of the phone because nobody can get one now. My office is inundated with people who cannot get their visa sorted out. The Minister of State needs to make the effort to change the system for the right reasons.

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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