Migration and Citizenship: Statements Dail Éireann — 2026-09-30 ============================================================ Roderic O'Gorman (GP), Dublin West Citizenship is not merely a legal status; it is a statement of belonging. It is how people who have built their lives here, work here, raise their families here and contribute to our society become full and equal members of that society. Each country has the right to determine the rules around how it grants citizenship to others - no one disputes that. However, the proposals being advanced by the Government, specifically the increase in the time period from five to eight years, moves us in the wrong direction. These changes will make the pathway to citizenship longer, more complicated and more uncertain for people who are already living legally in Ireland and making a valuable contribution in our country. Last week, some of the people who will be impacted by these changes protested outside Leinster House. I was struck by what they chanted, "We work, we pay tax". Their frustration was tangible. These changes are impacting people who have played by the rules and who undertake crucial work. Some are in high-end jobs, some are in university research, while others are in core, caring roles that are essential to our health and social services. What is most striking is that the Government has failed to explain what problems these measures are actually intended to solve. At a time when anti-immigrant rhetoric is becoming louder across Europe, including here in Ireland, there is a real risk that these proposals are more about political signalling than they are about good public policy. To me it seems the Government is being performatively tough on migration of any kind to match what it perceives to be a shift in sentiment. That is the opposite of the leadership we need right now. I am particularly concerned about people who already have applications in process. Those who have submitted applications did so based on the rules that existed at the time. Existing applications should be submitted under the current system and the new requirements should not be applied retrospectively. I raise again the delay in issuing visas to students from Gaza who have been accepted to study in Irish institutions. Sixty students are facing unacceptable delays and unfair procedural requirements, particularly considering that they live in a war zone. The Department of justice needs to rapidly process these visas. --- 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