PEOPLE ARE being refused citizenship for such reasons as having a few penalty points or claiming disability benefit, an Immigrant Council of Ireland conference has heard. Its founder Sr Stanislaus Kennedy said the State’s policy on citizenship “badly needs a rethink”.
Immigrants can apply for citizenship after five years of legal residency here. Sr Stanislaus said the Government approved just over half of citizenship applications. This compared with a 90 per cent approval rate in the UK and Australia, and 97 per cent in Canada.
The UK processed 95 per cent of applications within six months and Australia approved 85 per cent within 90 days. “Our policy seems to be to simply discourage applicants, to make it difficult, as difficult as possible for them, to stall, to delay, to prevaricate,” she said. There was no avenue of appeal to challenge a refusal.
She said Ireland did not have clear criteria for the granting of citizenship, and it was ultimately and entirely at the discretion of the Minister for Justice.
She knew of one single parent with three young children who had lived in Ireland for more than seven years and had never applied for social welfare benefits. Two years after applying for citizenship, she was told the Minister for Justice had deferred her decision for a year, to ascertain that she was in paid employment and independent of State funding.
A man had his application refused after a three-year wait as he was not of good character. He was involved in a minor traffic offence eight years earlier, and had received two penalty points and been fined €150. “That was the extent of his bad character.”
Newstalk presenter Dil Wickremasinghe told the conference the citizenship process was riddled with inconsistencies, as she recently got citizenship despite having five penalty points while she heard of others being refused because they had penalty points.
“Citizenship should not be regarded as a privilege which is bestowed among an elite few, but indeed a natural progression of all migrants living in Ireland [who] satisfy a clear set of standards.”
President Mary McAleese said that, thanks to immigration, we now had a cadre of Irish citizens steeped in the languages, customs and practices of many of our emerging export markets. “That is a very robust platform with which to court those markets and with which to attract inward investors who are looking for a wide variety of skills in today’s competitive global economy.”
Sr Stanislaus said it was time for the Catholic Church to begin disengaging from the management of the majority of schools, because it was no longer appropriate in a multicultural society.
A DVD, Belonging, in which young people talk about racism, immigration and inclusion can be viewed on www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC56mOMVQMw.
Exiles’ views young immigrants speak
Ireland is not a racist society, but, rather than engaging with immigrants, some Irish people tend to adopt an air of passive tolerance.
– Zimbabwean-born Irish resident Hailuu Netsiyanwa
Before moving here, my impression of Ireland was leprechauns, pots of gold. But when I came here, it was daily life, just like any other country.
– Mariam (14), originally from Pakistan, moved here in 2008.
I spent all my life living in Ireland, but both my parents are Bulgarian and I don’t feel fully Irish because of that.
But I don’t feel fully Bulgarian either because, when I go there, I’m not the same as all the other adolescents that are over there. I don’t feel fully at home anywhere I go.
– Emil (15), originally from Bulgaria, moved here in 1998.
When you first come, it’s kind of scary and you don’t know what to do. You have no one to talk to. If you join into the culture and all, it’s like you’re Irish.
But say if you’re from another country, like me – I just feel Indian because that’s where I’m from and my family is.
– Narayani (13), originally from India, moved here in 2007.
Obtaining Irish citizenship is the single biggest and most influential event that has occurred in my life.
– Italian-born Dil Wickremasinghe, who moved here 10 years ago.
