It has been reported that Minister O’Callaghan is to submit proposals for Cabinet approval that would tighten rules for Irish citizenship.
It is reported that applicants will have to have been resident in the country for at least 8 years and they will also be required to take language tests.
Paul Murphy TD said:
“Over the course of this year, the government and Minister O’Callaghan have been engaged in a cynical campaign to create a hostile environment for immigrants and asylum seekers.
“Many people who came to Ireland to work in our health system and other sectors were assured that visa applications for family members to join them would be dealt with swiftly. But they have been left waiting and heartbroken because of the hostile environment that Jim O’Callaghan is creating to further his Fianna Fáil leadership ambitions.
“The proposals reported upon today, of a tightening of citizenship rules, are another performative hostility designed to appeal to and stoke anti-immigrant and racist sentiment.
“It is notable that it has also been reported today that German Chancellor Friedrich Merz of the Christian Democratic Union is considering plans to tighten citizenship laws. This is clearly a direct response to the far-right AfD’s victory in regional elections yesterday. This is now part of the modus operandi of the EU’s mainstream right parties.
“It is ordinary people trying to make a decent life for themselves and their families that are the victims of this toxic relationship between the mainstream right and the far right, competing to use and inflame anti-immigrant sentiment here and across Europe. It is complete moral bankruptcy of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and their sister mainstream parties in the EU.”
People Before Profit representative for Dublin Central, Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin said:
“As an Irish speaker, I find it deeply offensive to see the Irish language being used so cynically to appease anti-immigrant and racist sentiment.
“Heather Humphreys, Fine Gael’s candidate in last year’s presidential election, who was previously Minister for the Gaeltacht, could speak little if any Irish, and yet the government now seeks to weaponise the language for their own political gain.
“The Irish language is a cultural treasure that must be nurtured and promoted through proper supports and funding, not used as a political football. Shame on the government for trying to do so.”