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OUR FRENCH NEIGHBOURS fast-tracked the citizenship applications of 12,000 frontline workers due to their work throughout the Covid-19 pandemic. The citizenship application process usually takes around two years in France. The fast-track system also reduced the residency requirement from five years to two.
The French government announced in September 2020 that non-French citizens who had “actively contributed” to supporting the country through the pandemic would be eligible to apply for fast-track citizenship. French Minister Marlène Schiappa announced this week that there had been 16,381 applications and 12,012 of those had been approved.
This raises the question – can Ireland do the same?
Fine Gael’s Neale Richmond certainly thinks so. He told The Journal: “My very blunt reply is: if the French can do it, why can’t we?”
As of June this year, there were just under 25,000 naturalisation applications. The lengthy backlog is now beginning to shift through the processing of applications and online citizenship ceremonies are underway.
The extensive backlog has meant longer wait times for applicants to hear back about their citizenship status. Richmond stated that “much credit should go to the officials who have provided extra resources to get through the applications”.
Many countries across the world are having conversations about how to show their appreciation to frontline workers who have sacrificed enormous amounts in order to support their countries response to the pandemic.
In July, Taoiseach Micheál Martin told the Dáil the government is “actively” considering a bonus for healthcare workers to recognise their efforts throughout the pandemic. Yet the question of granting citizenship to non-Irish frontline workers remains.
Minister of State at the Department of Justice and Equality James Browne told the Dáil in early June that the naturalisation application process has “no provisions to apply different criteria depending on the category of employment of the applicant.”
In response to Minister Browne, Richmond noted his disappointment regarding the inability to fast-track the applications of frontline workers.
A spokesperson from the Department of Justice stated: “All applications for a certificate of naturalisation are processed and assessed individually in accordance with the relevant legislative provisions.”
There is no provision under the legislation to differentiate between cohorts of applicants, for instance on the basis of nationality, ethnic origin or occupation. Details about an applicant’s category of employment and other relevant data or identifiers are not maintained by the Department’s Immigration Service.
Richmond highlighted the case of a member of his constituency, who has been resident in Ireland for over ten years. The man has been working in a care home throughout the course of the pandemic. At one stage the nursing home was at the centre of a Covid-19 breakout in which several residents lost their lives.
He described the constituent’s work as “the epitome of bravery” before adding “I think he has earned the respect of the nation to be put to the top of the queue”.
The issue of fast-tracking citizenship applications of frontline workers will be raised in the Dáil by Richmond in the coming weeks. As more and more countries show their gratitude to frontline workers for helping them through the pandemic, questions remain surrounding what support Ireland will implement.
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The biggest ‘sh##show’ imaginable. I point the finger fairly and squarely at Simple Simon Harris. The cost is truly astonishing followed closely by incompetence on a stratospheric level. Let us not forget the poor kiddies that are being deprived of the care they deserve, all because of a government run by gimps.
@Andrew Kenny: https://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/reilly-insists-st-james-s-best-site-for-650m-children-s-hospital-1.1858282
@Padraic O’ Sullivan: Ah yes, Dr Reilly, should be called Little Jack Horner, as he had his thumb in many pies!
@Padraic O’ Sullivan: I’ve never understood why this wasn’t built at the Connolly hospital site in Blanchardstown. An absolute and enduring fiasco from start to eventual finish.
@honey badger: from what I heard it was because the consultants (probably some that signed this letter) wouldn’t move there, I wouldn’t take that as gospel though.
@honey badger: It would have been ideal, on the M50, readily accessible from anywhere, but no, vested interests take precedence!
@honey badger: or maybe in the midlands where it’s central to the whole country
@The next small thing: I have family in there and heard Southside consultants had the final say on it. Made to suit the Blackrock brigade a F the rest of us as per usual. No real surprises there to be honest.
@Andrew Kenny: FG gave the green light to proceed construction in the heart of Dublin City, we all know it should have been built in Blanchardstown, heavy traffic has always been a problem in this part of the city and now it’s going to be much heavier and will cause longer delays for everyone trying to negotiate traffic especially for people living in the area and commuters heading west towards Palmerstown, Lucan, Leixlip, Cellbridge.
@Adam H2022: anyone who thinks medical consultants had ANY say in where hospitals are located has no understanding of how the health system in Ireland works. All decisions like this are made by the department of health and politicians
No need to worry gang… it will be at least another year before this is open..no need to panic
@David Cotter: a complete joke
@Chutes Idiot: you’re optimistic… Wasn’t that hospital moved to a “2030 Project” some days after the November elections? I wish I were wrong though
Great breakdown on the fiasco here:
Shows this disaster is now well known around the World. I’ve also heard Bam might ask for another €853 million, pushing the total cost well past €3 billion.
@David Jordan: This is what happens when Student Union activists are running the government, like getting children to operate a nuclear reactor!
Well of course there’s going to be staff shortages. They’ve built a building. They haven’t built any kind of medical system that anyone in there right mind would want to work in. How any of the staff turn up for work everyday is beyond me. I mean frontline staff that are being ran into the ground day in day out. Having a recruitment embargo on irish nurses whole recruiting them from abroad is just a slap in the face to any junior nurse that was going to enter the system. If they have any sense they will be long gone and god bless them in there lives. The NCH was a ego project for fg.
Exactly where are the staff to treat the kiddies commung from .there is a lack of nurses and Dr’s as it is in ireland due to the extra long hours and awfull pay
@Karen Marten: “awful pay” Doctors!
@Michael Reilly: there are a thousand vacancies for consultants. They won’t return to Ireland while the conditions are so appalling. What has the minister for health to say about all this?
In another 2 years the hospital still won’t be open but the sick kids will be living out there grandparents back garden in a lag cabin
Import the third world, Become the third world!
POTA!
Enough of this debacle now, no point contributing to dialogue on this sad happening for children of this isle, it is what it is let’s wait until the doors are open.
Unless the minister gets the working conditions right for the medical and nursing staff the crisis continues.
Doctors do you real jobs and turn up for work at weekends
have your say