'We're being used as scapegoats': Migrants protest proposed reform of citizenship rules
Gregory Povorozniuk from Ukraine but living in Dublin at a citizenship rights protest at the Dáil today. Photo: Leah Farrell/© RollingNews.ie
New government proposals are “placing a price tag on citizenship” and must be completely scrapped, a protest has heard.
Members of the migrant community living in Ireland gathered outside Leinster House on Tuesday to protest proposed changes to citizenship applications.
These include changing the reckonable residency requirement from five to eight years, introducing a minimum salary, and a ban on receiving social welfare in the two years preceding an application.
Sumyrah Khan moved to Ireland six years ago, saying an “opportunity to move to Ireland held a promise”. However, she argued that promise had been “taken away” from immigrants.
“We're once again at the bottom of the totem pole of this Government,” she said. “We're being used as scapegoats for their Government failings when it comes to housing, when it comes to the cost-of-living crisis.
“We bear the brunt of this Government's policies, and once again, they have changed the goalpost for us. Once again, we have no rationale for why this has been done to us.”
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Ms Khan appealed to TDs and Senators who were at the protest to fight back against the proposals, arguing that this is “not law yet”.
“If you've ever stood with us, this is the moment to defend us, to scrutinise this bill for what it is,” she added.
Pretty Ndawo is from South Africa and moved to Ireland in 2022. Of the four years she has been here, three will count towards her reckonable residency.
She told the that she had to leave her daughter behind, and that the changes to citizenship proposals may delay their reunion. “The introduction of a salary threshold is essentially placing a price tag on citizenship,” she said.
“It places an unnecessary burden on migrants, who not only have to pay taxes, but also have the burden of paying fees in relation to renewing our permission and immigration status in Ireland.
“It is very sad that the proposals essentially say that only rich migrants have the right to become citizens.”
Ms Ndawo said that people must “stand up against laws and policies that are simply driven by hate, discrimination, and racism”.
Neil Bruton, director with the Migrant Rights Centre Ireland, told the that the proposals are the “latest in a string of anti-migrant policies being introduced with absolutely no rationale”, as he called for the proposals to be scrapped.
“People are deeply worried about this proposed salary threshold. Nobody knows what that's going to be set at,” he said.
“We're really concerned that essential workers — healthcare assistants, meat factory workers, chefs, factory workers — are actually not going to be able to get citizenship at all because they're not going to be rich enough.”
Mr Bruton also said people are concerned about the increase in reckonable residency from five to eight years, saying people are already waiting up to two years for answers on their citizenship applications.
“Ultimately, we want this bill scrapped,” he said.
“Nobody has identified any issue whatsoever with the current citizenship process. No rationale has been put forward. No one has said this is the issue that we're trying to solve with these amendments.”
Pre-legislative scrutiny is expected to start on the proposals in the Oireachtas Justice Committee later this month.
It was expected to start this week, but the understands that this could not be facilitated as there were no rooms available to hold the sittings.
This has led to concern amongst some TDs that justice minister Jim O’Callaghan may try to rush the proposals through in order to have them done before Christmas.
- Louise Burne, political correspondent
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