Citizenship ceremonies were first introduced in 2011 by then minister for justice Alan Shatter to mark the solemnity and dignity of the occasion.
Our pictures show some of the 5,200 people who were granted citizenship over two days at the events centre at the Gleneagle Hotel in Killarney earlier this month.
Software engineer Varun Menon agreed he had his priorities right: he was becoming a citizen of Cork and joked he felt more Cork than Irish.
Arriving from Mumbai in 2017 to study for his master’s in computer science, Varun, like many Indians who became Irish citizens in Killarney, is from Kerala in southern India.
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People born in India were the single largest group taking Irish citizenship this December.
US-born Kirsten Fossum came to Galway a decade ago to do her PhD in atmosphere physics – and stayed. Now working in the Mace Head Atmospheric Research Station in Co Galway, Kirsten had no regrets about swapping the blue skies of Los Angeles for the grey and the rain – a yellow warning was in place for much of the morning in Kerry.
She was accompanied by her partner, Galway man Sam Keady, who works with Galway County Council. The pair met nine years ago. Fossum said becoming an Irish citizen undoubtedly would make life easier as she travels a lot to Europe in the course of her work.
“Plus, I love Ireland,” she said.
Galway is “a really special place. We can build a life now and not worry,” Fossum said.
