Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is a great pleasure and a privilege for me to be able to join you here to share in this special day – the day you will be granted Irish citizenship, the first of our citizenship ceremonies in 2014. It is a very important day in the story of your life and it is also an important day for Ireland, as the host nation bestowing this honour on you.
I welcome you all here today from countries all around the globe. We have, here at this ceremony, almost 1,000 candidates and I am also pleased to extend a welcome to your friends and family who have come today to these magnificent surroundings of the Convention Centre to witness this joyful milestone in your life.
The three ceremonies today are the first to be held since we regained our financial independence last December. I am very proud to say that Ireland is once again a sovereign nation and you will shortly become our newest citizens.
The decision to apply to become an Irish citizen is, I know, one you did not take lightly and today is a major event in your life and that of your family. The oath you will soon take is a solemn personal undertaking and I know it is one you take seriously. Today is also a major event for us as the host nation in bestowing this honour on you.
As Minister for Justice and Equality, I have the responsibility and duty, on behalf of the Irish nation, to ensure that the grant of citizenship is given in accordance with the laws of our country. Each application is given careful consideration and I take each decision to grant, or indeed to refuse, citizenship very seriously indeed. It is a momentous occasion for you, as it is for us. It is a life altering event, not only for you, but for generations yet to come in your families.
Today’s ceremony is greatly enhanced by the presence of Bryan McMahon, a retired Judge of the High Court, who will perform the role of Presiding Officer. He will administer the Declaration of Fidelity to the Irish Nation and Loyalty to the State, which is the final part of the citizenship application process, without which you cannot become an Irish citizen. We are, therefore, very grateful to Bryan for being here today to fulfil this most important function.
The band of An Garda Síochána, under the command of Inspector Pat Kenny, and accompanied by Garda Patrick McElroy who will sing Amhran na bhFiann, our National Anthem, is providing the music for today’s event which I think you will agree adds immeasurably to the sense of occasion. I would like to thank all the members of the Garda Band for their wonderful performance. The participation of the Colour Party, under the command of Captain Mark Tormey, underlines in a very significant way the solemnity and importance of the ceremony. Thank you all for your presence and your contribution to this event.
The staff of my Department, particularly those in the Citizenship Section, have worked tirelessly in processing your applications and in making today’s event run smoothly. On behalf of all of us, I thank them also.
Some of you may be aware that today is the annual public holiday in the United States to celebrate that great champion of equality and civil rights, Martin Luther King. Dr King’s dream of a country where people “are not judged by the colour of their skin” or by their background but “by the content of their character” still strikes a chord in the 21st Century. My message to all of our new citizens here today is that, upon becoming an Irish citizen, each of you will become a citizen of a State in which you have equal rights, in which your rights as Irish citizens are no different to those Irish citizens whose ancestors were born here and the equal rights of each of you are deserving of equal respect. You are becoming citizens of a State whose Constitution proclaims the equal rights of men and women and whose laws prohibit discrimination against any individual on grounds of race, religion, sexual orientation or gender.
When I was honoured to be nominated by the Taoiseach as Minister for Justice and Equality in March 2011, I made it a priority to establish a ceremony to appropriately recognise and to mark, in a formal and meaningful way, the granting of Irish citizenship. The first Citizenship Ceremony ever held in this State took place - only three short months later - on 24th June 2011 in Dublin Castle. On that day, 73 applicants were welcomed as Ireland’s newest citizens. Since then, 84 ceremonies have been held and - today alone - just over 3,000 new citizens will be welcomed in the course of three ceremonies to Ireland’s national family. I think that all of you here now, together with all those who have been granted citizenship since that date, deserve a big round of applause…….
It was a very different picture when this Government took office in March 2011. The processing time for citizenship applications, in all cases, was over two years and people often waited much longer. In fact, there were 22,000 applications waiting in a long scarcely moving queue. A key part of establishing the ceremonies was the necessary work to eliminate the backlog that then existed and now, nearly three years later, that intolerable situation has been remedied. New forms and streamlined processes that I introduced on taking office are working efficiently and over 70% of citizenship applications are now being processed within the 6 month target. Due to complications, some applications take longer but the delays experienced prior to 2011 have been eliminated from our citizenship process. Today’s ceremonies, along with those that have taken place since June 2011, have been critical to this very impressive turnaround. Up to then, the declaration you will make here in just a few minutes was made in local District Courts. Not only was this arrangement inappropriate but the courts would simply not have been able to cope with the number of candidates for citizenship whose applications have been decided in the past few years. I think I can safely say that the reforms introduced and the establishment of a formal Citizenship Ceremony are very positive initiatives that have been met with universal approval.
It is truly uplifting to realise that this tiny island, at the edge of Western Europe facing into the Atlantic Ocean which is home to us all has, as its citizens - as members of our national Irish family - people who have come to live with us from every country on this planet. I think we all deserve a round of applause for that……
As you leave here today, as proud new citizens of this Republic and constitutional democracy, our history is your history and the narrative of your life is now part of our history.
In a few moments you will make your declaration of Loyalty to our Nation and Fidelity to our State. These are solemn and serious pledges and it is the duty of us all, as citizens of a proud nation which values inclusion, tolerance and diversity, to uphold them.
Finally, I wish to congratulate you, one and all, on becoming our newest Irish citizens – we welcome you to our national family.
I now formally introduce Judge McMahon and call upon him to administer the declaration in which you publicly declare your Fidelity to our Nation and Loyalty to our State as well as an undertaking to faithfully observe the laws of the State and respect its democratic values.
ENDS
[For Information: Retired Judge Bryan McMahon presided over the 10:00 am and 12:45 am ceremonies, and Retired Judge Patrick McMahon will preside over the 15:30 pm ceremony.]