Calls for Govt to pause naturalisation applications after court ruling

The Government has been asked to pause naturalisation applications and to quickly draft legislation after a court ruling that applicants must have unbroken residency here for a year.

Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan said he knows the ruling has alarmed interested parties and that it has left people in an unsettled state.

There are now fears as to the impact it will have on the cases of naturalisation applicants.

It comes after Mr Justice Max Barrett, on Wednesday, said that the minister's discretionary practise of allowing applicants to take up to six weeks out of the country for holidays or work was not permitted by law.

He said that the law, which requires continuous residence, stated that the applicant could not leave the country even for a day.

Fianna Fáil justice spokesman Jim O'Callaghan agreed with the judge that the language in the legislation was very clear.

He noted that the judge had referred to continuous, uninterrupted and unbroken time for an applicant living in Ireland.

Mr O'Callaghan added: “We need to draft amending legislation to change it, to ensure that people who are applying can deal with the ordinary issues in life. People have to go away for work sometimes, they go away for holidays. I think the way the state has applied it is the correct way and we just need to reflect that in new legislation.”

Judge Barrett has said that the cure for any unfairness in the system must be found in the legislator.

Immigrant Council of Ireland CEO Brian Killoran said there were thousands of people who had applied or were about to who may be impacted by the High Court ruling.

Some of these people had been living in Ireland for long periods and were desperate to regularise their arrangements here, such as British citizens wanting to be Irish, he told RTE's Morning Ireland.

But Mr O'Callaghan suggested that impacted applications should be halted before politicians are able to address the ruling in the autumn.

“I do think we need amending legislation. I think the minister should draft that amending legislation now. I also think it will be necessary maybe to pause the applications that are before him at present.”