PDForra: 'Grant citizenship to foreign-born Defence Force members'

Gerard Guinan, general secretary, PDForra, said: 'I don't believe Irish people would consider it fair to allow EU citizens who are resident here to join the Defence Forces, serve our nation overseas, risk life and limb with their comrades then to deny them through economic means the ability to become citizens of our State.' File picture: Don MacMonagle

They've taken an oath and are prepared to die for Ireland, yet foreign-born men and women joining the Defence Forces then have to pay thousands to get citizenship.

This has seriously annoyed many of their Irish-born colleagues and PDForra, the organisation which represents the country's rank and file soldiers, sailors and air crews.

The association voted unanimously at its conference in Killarney to ask the Department of Defence and the Department of Justice and Foreign Affairs to have all resident non-nationals who serve in the Defence Forces for a period of at least five years granted citizenship free of charge.

PDForra general secretary Gerard Guinan said the association has sought that the service of resident non-nationals who enlist "be appropriately recognised" by the State through the grant of free citizenship.

“I don't believe Irish people would consider it fair to allow EU citizens who are resident here to join the Defence Forces, serve our nation overseas, risk life and limb with their comrades then to deny them through economic means the ability to become citizens of our State,” Mr Guinan said.

He said PDForra first highlighted this in 2018.

“But there seems to be an attitude of let them apply the same as everyone else. When considering that the Government allows citizens of other nations to hold Irish passports if they pay a certain amount of money, it has to be asked are we prepared to have soldiers risk their lives with a tri-colour on their arm and then deny them though force of economic necessity the ability to become a citizen,” Mr Guinan said.

The general public know that members of the Defence Forces are relatively poorly paid, but I’m not sure that too many understand that it can cost thousands of euros to attain citizenship after a prolonged period. This is a cost that many enlisted personnel just can’t afford against competing interests of looking after their families.” 

The US military uses liaison officers to help serving personnel through the naturalisation application process, including a certificate of good conduct and payment of any fees incurred.

More and more foreign-born people are joining the Defence Forces, which is short more than 1,000 personnel and faces the prospect of losing 700 more by the end of next year due to contractual issues.

Those who signed post-1994 contracts were given shorter periods of employment, due to come to an end in December 2022.

Many are highly experienced corporals and sergeants whose expertise the Defence Forces can ill afford to lose.

However, Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Sean Clancy has revealed that the military management wants their contracts extended.

“The general staff are acutely aware of the need to resolve this longstanding issue. The retention of our personnel has been an ongoing challenge for the Defence Forces and it is the view of the general staff that mandatory retirement ages (MRA) for post-1994 personnel should be extended from the current prescribed levels. The principle of extending the MRA of the post-1994 personnel ensures that we retain experienced, technically and professionally proficient personnel,” Lieut Gen Clancy said.

Defence Minister Simon Coveney has not said yet if he will extend their contracts.