Irish Examiner view: Sensible citizenship rules could unite people rather than divide them

Many will view the stipulated proficiency in Irish, English, or Irish Sign Language as a commonsense requirement for citizenship

Jim O’Callaghan is to introduce more stringent criteria for those applying for Irish citizenship. They include requiring eight years' residency (up from the current five) as well as requiring a 'knowledge and understanding of Irish civics', including society and politics. Stock picture 

Gaining Irish citizenship looks set to become a more testing proposition, going by proposals due before Cabinet this week.

As reported here by Louise Burne, justice minister Jim O’Callaghan is to introduce more stringent criteria for citizenship. These include increasing the length of time a person must live in Ireland in order to be eligible for citizenship — from five years to eight years — as well as requiring a “knowledge and understanding of Irish civics”, including society and politics. 

Many observers may focus on the new requirement to demonstrate proficiency in Irish, English, or Irish Sign Language to ensure that applicants can “integrate and communicate effectively in civic and daily life”.

For many people, these are commonsense requirements for anyone seeking Irish citizenship, but the Government can expect plenty of criticism for the direction it is taking.

One of this week’s proposals will give a “distinct ground” for the minister to “revoke citizenship on public order and national security grounds”. Voices on the far right will no doubt try to spin this as an admission that current vetting procedures are not fit for purpose.

It would be more accurate to see these new measures, however, as the reasonable expectations any country might have of a new citizen.

The new language requirement, which the minister says will be a relatively simple test, has the potential to be a unifying prospect as opposed to being a divisive one. In the US, which has for centuries been a melting pot of millions of people from very different cultures, the use of English has been a key element in integrating people into American society.

Many of these cultures continue to preserve their own traditions and beliefs as a way of keeping in touch with their heritage — Irish-Americans are a good example of this — but the fact that all use a common language in everyday life is a powerful bonding agent there and has the potential to have the same impact here.

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AfD vote signals a worrying lurch to the right

It is not often that the results of a provincial election in another country make for front-page headlines here, but the news coming in from Saxony-Anhalt in Germany at the
weekend merits that focus.

State elections there saw the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) more than double its support, which brought it to the very brink of becoming the first far right party to gain power in Germany at state level since the Second World War.

Readers need hardly be reminded that that war was started by the Nazis, the ultimate far-right party, which seized control of Germany in the 1930s. Anyone with a feel for history will surely experience a chill on learning that the AfD is enjoying such electoral success, given its ability to flirt with the Nazi legacy. Earlier this summer, there was considerable criticism of the AfD for planning its annual conference on the 100th anniversary of a notorious Nazi rally, and in the same location.

The AfD’s policy platform is not an encouraging one. Alongside general support for Russian president Vladimir Putin, the party advocates for withdrawing war refugee status for Ukrainians who have fled to Germany, suggesting they return to their own country. It seems difficult to believe that any political party in central or eastern Europe would be supportive of Russia, the aggressor in the most significant land war on the continent in 80 years, but the AfD’s opportunism is not limited to toadying to Mr Putin.

The party has already moved to thank Elon Musk, the owner of X, for his support: Musk said “Well done!” in German to AfD co-founder Alice Weidel when she posted online about the party’s success.

It should be acknowledged that the AfD fell short of the majority necessary to take power, and it may struggle to find a coalition partner with which to govern. However, it is deeply concerning that Germany, for decades the very engine of European progress, has lurched to the right.

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Iarnród Éireann and Indra

The recent record of large-scale project management in Ireland is a dispiriting read. 

There is Cork’s long-awaited events centre, the never-ending saga of costs and delays at the National Children’s Hospital, and any number of other stalled, delayed, or costly projects.

A good example was the new IT system which was intended to control train movements on the Irish rail network, the traffic management system.

It was expected to be in place two years ago, but Irish Rail was told it could be the summer of next year before even the first phase of the project would be introduced, and that it could be well into the next decade before the full system was operational.

Accordingly, last May, Irish Rail decided that the traffic management system was not likely to be used, writing down the €50m value of the project in its accounts.

So far, so familiar. But this week came news that Irish Rail has fired the company that had been developing the system, Spanish IT multinational Indra Sistemas, and is preparing a legal case for damages.

We have grown so accustomed to enormous sums of money being written off in such cases that this news comes almost as a shock. It is unusual to see an Irish state or semi-state body take such a path but one worth noting.