Migrant supporters to protest planned citizenship changes

Updated / Tuesday, 3 Nov 2026 00:01

Supporters of migrants will protest outside Leinster House today as the Justice Committee meets for the first time to consider proposed changes to citizenship.

If enacted, the Irish Nationality and Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2026 will increase the standard residency requirement for naturalisation from five to eight years.

The General Scheme of the bill also seeks to introduce wealth conditions, mandatory language testing, and an Irish civics exam.

The Migrant Rights Centre Ireland (MRCI) and other human rights groups have described it as "cruel" and restrictive.

Under the proposals, applicants face disqualification from citizenship if they have received prescribed social welfare payments or state housing supports, such as the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP), in the two years prior to or during their application.

There is concern that the bill will send a damaging message to the migrant workers 'propping up' essential Irish sectors.

Despite caring for older people, staffing hospitals and nursing homes, and keeping farms, factories and kitchens running, MRCI Director Neil Bruton said the proposals were telling migrants they were "welcome to work here, pay taxes here, but not to belong here".

In September, the Minister for Justice Jim O'Callaghan described the proposal as "reasonable", adding it was not "unreasonable to align ourselves" with other EU member states.

The MRCI has challenged that claim, pointing out that countries including Germany, France, and the Netherlands all maintain a five-year residency rule.

Healthcare assistant Pretty Ndawo, who moved to Ireland from South Africa four years ago, said the rules reduced migrants to "units of labour".

"Excluding anyone who has needed social welfare is cruel. It says migrants cannot get sick or injured - despite paying social insurance.

"Why should a tech worker in a multinational corporation be more entitled to citizenship than the healthcare assistant holding a sick grandparent's hand?"

The text of the bill also confirms that time spent in Ireland by Ukrainian refugees under the EU’s temporary protection directive will not count towards reckonable residence for citizenship.

Minister O'Callaghan has previously stated that "citizenship is a privilege, not a right".

However, opponents point out that the State's own economic advisers have repeatedly warned that Ireland must remain highly attractive to international workers to counter the demographic pressures of an ageing local population.