Almost 4,000 immigrants were granted Irish citizenship on Wednesday, in a number of ceremonies across Dublin.
The first Citizenship Ceremony ever held in Ireland took place in June 2011, since then approximately 14,000 individuals from 161 countries have been granted citizenship at 55 ceremonies.
Minister for Justice Alan Shatter spoke about the significance of the day for so many people, as 3,400 people were sworn in as Irish citizens.
"For those of you granted citizenship your future is now interwoven with the future of this State, its citizens across the globe and in particular, all of us who live on this island."
The Minister said Ireland was enriched by the presence of new citizens: “You have come to our country and have chosen to live among us. Some of you have been waiting a considerable time for this day to arrive.
“Today, we welcome you to our nation as its newest citizens, and we hope that you will continue to contribute to our communities, to our neighbourhood and to our society," he said.
Among the new citizens was Maria Elizabeth Mallo (50), a Filipino native, who has been living in Roscommon for 10 years.
"I am very excited today because I have been here for so long working hard to get my citizenship," she told the Irish Times.
"I love Ireland, although being from a tropical country I don't think I will ever be used to the weather," she added.
Originally from Lagos in Nigeria, Paul Ewetuga (42) has been waiting 10 years to get citizenship.
"It is good for me today because it will make some major changes to my life such as access to good healthcare and education," he told The Irish Times. "When I was not a citizen here my life was much harder."
Last September, Dhan Maya Adhikari (39) attended her husband's citizenship ceremony. She moved to Ireland from Pokhara in Nepal over six years ago.
"I am living over six years in Ireland,. and it is very nice to become a citizen now like my husband. I like very much the people here, and we are very happy," she said.
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.uRsSG7uy | Jan 20, 2013, 01:00 AM EST
" ... your future is now interwoven with the future of this State, its citizens across the globe and in particular, all of us who live on this island." Such nonsense from the Minister for Justice and Minister for Equality and .... Minister for Defence whose loyalty is to Israel. Ireland sold its heart to the EU and soul to Israel. I will NEVER go back.
seanomelb | Sep 08, 2012, 08:31 PM EDT
I see WoundedKnee has another racist git to assuage his bitter mind
MichaelMcGrath | Sep 08, 2012, 12:39 PM EDT
@WOundedKnee, I heard one time that Shatter's real name is Shatterowski, that his people are Lithuanian Jews , so of course a fella like that would be in favour of mass immigration - into everywhere bar Israel:-)
seanomelb | Sep 06, 2012, 07:56 PM EDT
WoundedKnee should change his name to wounded brain the little bigot
WoundedKnee | Sep 06, 2012, 01:25 PM EDT
I am afraid poster Bobby is quite uninformed. The Irish government gives no special treatment to people with strong Irish family connections. Indeed I myself knew of a couple of young Irish Argentines, guys who played Irish music and knew about Irish history, who were turned away by Irish Immigration at Dublin Airport. Of course all the time these Irish-Argentines were being interrogated by the hapless Irish Immigration, countless Latvians, Laotians, Liberians, Poles, Pohnpeians and Pakis strolled right past Immigration and into the Arrivals Hall. The Irish--fools and hypocrites, they deserve all the misfortunes they are getting. We owe them nothing. They owe us.
esatdigiwank | Sep 06, 2012, 05:59 AM EDT
I think at this stage we are more like the Land of a 100 Thousand (and still counting) Gobsh#tes. Before Shatter took office, there were 22, 000 awaiting citizenship; how far have we got so far with this figure..Meanwhile this Nordic country (from which i type) in 2012 plans to bring in 30,000 S-o-m-a-l-i-a-n-s to settle here. Now, you peeps please explain what all THAT is about...
bobby | Sep 05, 2012, 11:11 PM EDT
Sorry simplesandy once you can prove irish ancestors wheather it's 2nd 3rd or more. Speak to the immigration office in Dublin.
bobby | Sep 05, 2012, 10:58 PM EDT
@ simplesandy is it not the case that if you have irish connections you get rights to stay and work in the country? I know i have a friend of mine from NY lived in Dublin back in 1990. Her mother and father were irish and she got a stamp 4 visa that gave her the right to work and reside in ireland. And im sure that also extends to grandparents.
DanOLoingsigh | Sep 05, 2012, 02:29 PM EDT
INorth - FG in a minority Government??? I don't think so...Check the maths; In the 31st Dáil FG have 76 seats, Labour have 37; Total for coalition = 113, needed for majority - 83. It may be a tyranny, but not of the minority...
IrelandNorth | Sep 05, 2012, 07:24 AM EDT
More competitors for underfunded library facilities in Dublin and environs which I spent my working life paying taxes to fund, only to be jostled by dangerously ambitious and inherently disrespectful foreign language students young enough to be my children who haven't payed such taxes. Ethnic and racial equality often mean national inequality. Multiculturalism is a sactified euphemism for cheap labour. Immigration above 10% is cultural suicide. Fine Gael is a minority party in a minority coalition government with an even smaller minority party - a tyranny of the minority! Some democracy! Regardless of what any Irish government minister who is relieved of the ignominy of competing for scarce public resources says, the Irish unemployed classes are unlikely to accept [un]naturalised citizenry, not as long as there's a percentile disparity between 14% native unemployment and 20% immigration. (Anyone got the figures for Irish emigrants to the above mentioned countries, and how does one explain such ragged trousered philanthropy (ie giving what one doesn't have/or is not theirs to give). RTE news yesterday showed Taoiseach passing Chinese Gárda going into his palatial Merrion Square offices, a manoeuvre to endear Ireland to China for access to markets. Imagine reception Gda Ping will get on straying into mass unemployment 'working'(?) class areas of Dublin. Maybe that's why he got the PR cushy number?
kilkennymanc | Sep 05, 2012, 03:18 AM EDT
jeez thats it we,re on the slippery slope to becoming a third world country!!!
seanomelb | Sep 04, 2012, 07:43 PM EDT
Ta bron ort a chara. Get over it and buy a box of tissues Seanmor
merefalow | Sep 04, 2012, 07:26 PM EDT
i think you are f,,,,,,,,,,,, crazy.to screw such a little country.when you cant supply jobs for your children and they have to leave their homeland and parents, but allow mass uncontrolled eu driven saturation.crazy politics.
Seanmor | Sep 04, 2012, 07:15 PM EDT
simplesandy: Appearently you are of the wrong race, wrong color and probably the wrong religion to be fully accepted in today's Southern Irish state, which is rapily becoming the new homeland of non-Christians from the Third World. But things could be worse for you because I'm less welcome in the Irish than are you, since I support and even speal an Ghaeilge, a language that most T.D.s riducule and reject.
seanomelb | Sep 04, 2012, 06:30 PM EDT
The racists are out of the asylum with there leader (WoundedKnee aka George Dillon).
cillowen | Sep 04, 2012, 05:28 PM EDT
St Patrick is really besides himself as pagan island is there for the taking. Who knew it would be so easy to solve the Irish poodle's missing head problem. I always thought it was the way for Merry O fix their nuiscence.
simplesandy | Sep 04, 2012, 02:45 PM EDT
I am an American citizen who has lived in Ireland for last 6 years. and every year I have to go through loop holes to get my card renewed. I bring money into the country . but who cares right. I look at these ppl and wonder how many of them will be using the welfare system here? how many of them can support themselves? every country may as wll open up their doors and let who ever wants to come in enter. they do anyways. and I have Irish roots but they go back more than 2 generations.
WoundedKnee | Sep 04, 2012, 01:34 PM EDT
Ironic that this guy Shatter is a big promoter of Mass Immigration to Ireland. He's also Ireland's biggest fan of Israel. Of course Israel has one of the most restrictive immigration systems in the world. But what's good enough for Shatter in Israel is not good enough for him in Ireland.
WoundedKnee | Sep 04, 2012, 01:30 PM EDT
I hope we won't see the two posters below whining about unemployment or emigration in Ireland. As to their "arguments", they're nonsense. It's not about working or not working. If 5 million Chinese immigrated to Ireland and worked, as they probably would, would Ireland be Ireland? Of course not. The whites who moved into Minnesota and the Dakotas all worked--did that do any good for the Sioux they supplanted? The Jews who occupied Palestine all worked--that was a great benefit for the Palestinians whose lands they stole, wasn't it? Mass Immigration is fundamentally a cultural and ethnic question, though it obviously has many economic elements. The Irish will be an ethnic minority in their own ancestral homeland within a couple decades. Once that homeland is lost, there is no other--Ireland is the only national homeland of the Irish people that has ever existed, or will ever exist. Most Irish people (70%, according to the polls) don't want to lose their homeland to foreign migrants. It seems our two posters below do. They obviously have no concept of nationality or heritage; like the Irish bosses all they want are cheap worker bees for the capitalist system. American readers should do a little math: the Mass Citizenship ceremony described above --just another in what is now a series of them--gave Irish citizenship to 4000 people. That's the equivalent of about 280,000 (two hundred and eighty thousand) people getting American citizenship AT ONE SITTING, ON ONE DAY. It's utter madness.
manhattan | Sep 04, 2012, 01:21 PM EDT
Maybe Derwahsinn we should stop immigration until Americans get jobs. I'm sure you will wring your hands over that. Also, for the U.S. the greedy buisness owners that send jobs to China should bring those jobs here that our unemployed would love to have. Hey Ralph Lauren our garment center in New York would have loved to make the olympic uniforms, instead you sent the job to China. Do we have any customer service anymore? Oh I forgot those jobs are in India. Something in Ireland and the U.S. smells.
Gavin | Sep 04, 2012, 10:16 AM EDT
If they bring something positive and are here to work then they are all welcome in my eyes
Derwahnsinn18 | Sep 04, 2012, 09:48 AM EDT
Whenerver you get stories like these you always get comments like those below. If you think that these people (most of whom who are working and contributing to the economy) shouldn't be given citizenship, despite fulfilling all the requirements, because of the recession. Then, I assume that you also believe that Irish citizens living in the US (or any other country)also shouldn't be granted citizenship in their adopted countries either given that most countries have an unemployment problem.
WoundedKnee | Sep 04, 2012, 08:46 AM EDT
You got that right, manhattan. And remember that the same politicans and ruling circles who gave Ireland Mass Immigration are now giving it Mass Emigration.
manhattan | Sep 04, 2012, 08:27 AM EDT
When so many irish men and women have to immigrate to find jobs shouldn't they be the first priority before you open the doors to people from other countries? First you take care of your own before others. Crazy.