[For Information: Retired Justice Bryan McMahon is presiding over the 10:30
am and 12:20 pm ceremonies, while Justice John MacMenamin will be presiding
over the afternoon ceremonies of 2:30 pm and 4:20 pm]
Ladies and Gentlemen,
You are all most welcome on this very special occasion. The granting of
citizenship to a person who has come to our country from a foreign land is
quite clearly a major event in his or her life. It is a time of
celebration, a rite of passage and a moment for all of you to cherish. It
is also a solemn event for this State to grant citizenship. I also welcome
you to this wonderful convention centre with its iconic architecture; it is
indeed a fitting place for hosting this most important occasion for you as
our newest citizens and for us as the host nation in bestowing this honour
on you.
As Minister for Justice and Equality, I am in law given the duty of
deciding who should be awarded the privilege of citizenship. In doing so,
I have to carefully apply the citizenship laws enacted by our Parliament
and consider the individual circumstances of those who seek Irish
citizenship. I take that duty very seriously, as I am acting on behalf of
all Irish people in deciding who should be granted the privilege of Irish
citizenship. We do not award citizenship lightly and it is right that its
granting is marked by a sense of occasion that serves to underscore its
importance to you, the person receiving it, and to us who, on behalf of the
people of Ireland, grant it to you.
You have come to our country and have chosen to live among us. Some of you
have been waiting a considerable time for this day to arrive. Today, we
welcome you to our nation as its newest citizens and we hope that you will
continue to contribute to our communities, to our neighbourhood and to our
society. As a people we have been enriched by your presence and in making
you citizens of our ancient and proud land we are acknowledging that
contribution.
Our ceremony today is greatly enhanced by the presence of Bryan McMahon,
one of our foremost lawyers, recently retired High Court Judge and a
greatly respected patron of the arts. Bryan will lend great dignity to the
proceedings in his role as presiding officer and his presence signifies in
a very public way the importance and solemnity of the occasion. I want to
thank you most sincerely, Bryan, for taking on this task.
I would like to thank the Garda Band conducted by Inspector Pat Kenny, and
the Colour Party from the Second Infantry Battalion for joining us for this
important ceremony.
I also want to thank the staff of my own department and in particular the
staff of the Citizenship Section in Tipperary who have been instrumental in
organizing today’s programme of ceremonies.
I referred earlier to the length of time that many of you here today will
have waited for your citizenship applications to be processed. When the
Government came into office 15 months ago on 9th March 2011 there was an
enormous backlog of approximately 22,000 citizenship applications awaiting
decision. Approximately 17,000 of these had been waiting in a barely moving
queue for in excess of 6 months with an average waiting time in excess of
two years. Some, indeed, had waited 3 to 4 years.
Having made decisions on almost 28,000 applications since I took office,
including more than 13,800 so far this year, I think I can safely say that
the steps that I initiated within my Department to deal with the backlog of
citizenship applications have been a huge success.
This citizenship ceremony, along with 3 others taking place here today,
together with the 47 other ceremonies which have taken place since we
introduced this universally welcomed initiative in June of last year, is a
major celebratory event in the citizenship process. Citizenship Ceremonies
have also been pivotal in addressing the backlog of citizenship
applications. Had we not put them in place, our District Courts - where
you would have been required to make the declaration you are making here
today - would have been overwhelmed by the sheer volume of applicants.
This of course would also have meant that you would have had to endure even
further delays in becoming citizens.
Today’s ceremonies also have a special significance – almost a year ago, on
24th of June 2011, the first Citizenship Ceremony ever held in this State
took place in the Dublin Castle Convention Centre. On that day, we
welcomed 73 new citizens to our national family. Today, in this state of
the art venue, we welcome 4,000. Over the coming months we plan to host a
further 11 ceremonies over 3 days here in this facility. I think your
presence here today deserves a special round of applause.
This ceremony on the award of citizenship marks in a very public way one of
the very potent and powerful manifestations of our independence as a
nation.
The history of this State is now your history and the narrative of your
life is now part of our history. For those of you granted citizenship
today your future is now interwoven with the future of this State, its
citizens across the globe and, in particular, all of us who live on this
island.
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 Bryan McMahon and call upon him to
administer the declaration of Fidelity, in which you publicly declare your
loyalty to our Nation and Fidelity to our State as well as an undertaking
to faithfully observe the laws of the State and respect its democratic
values.