Foreign nationals ‘refused citizenship over parking offences’

FOREIGN nationals are being refused Irish citizenship due to a lack of “good character” and in some cases, because they have parking offences.

A study by the Cork-based Irish Immigrant Support Centre NASC also shows that refusal rates for long-term residents who are seeking Irish citizenship are very high, at about half of all those applications.

The organisation said many aspects of the citizenship process, including in many cases the reasons why applications are refused, are shrouded in secrecy and needed to be made more transparent.