Migration and Citizenship: Statements
Dail Éireann — 2026-09-30
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Paul Lawless (AON), Mayo

This summer a man was convicted of the murder of three young children in Parnell Square. He lived in Ireland for 20 years. He needed an interpreter because he could not speak the language in court and he never worked a day in his life. Despite this, that person had Irish citizenship. How does that happen? Irish citizenship should be valued. It should be something to be worked for and something to be earned. Generations of Irish men and women have fought and bled for this nation, and this Government has thrown out citizenship far too easily. I asked the Minister for Social Protection how many people are on social welfare benefits who are new arrivals to the country and have a similar history of not working in this State.
The Minister was unable to tell me because he does not count the figures. How do we make a policy on this if we are not even going to collect the data?
Countries like Denmark and Germany have a language test, a civics test and financial requirements as well. Many years ago, we raised this and called for citizenship reform. Indeed many Irish citizens right across the country did so as well and anyone who raised this topic was shouted down and called many names under the sun. What an immature democracy. What a poor reflection on this Parliament and this Dáil that so many politicians who actually stood up today and welcomed the proposal were the same politicians from the same parties who shouted down Aontú and called us many names. I welcome the fact the Government is moving in the right direction. It is only right and proper that we would treat citizenship with value and introduce a language test, a civics test and, crucially, requirements around social welfare and financial independence. These things are normal and right and it is absurd the Government is only waking up to it now.

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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