More than 5,000 people set to attend the INEC Killarney to receive their Irish Citizenship

Over today and tomorrow approximately 5,200 people will be granted Irish citizenship at the INEC Killarney.

Applicants from over 132 countries and across all 32 counties on the island will make a declaration of fidelity and loyalty to the State and become Irish citizens.

There will be six ceremonies held over the two days in Killarney, with Minister of State with responsibility for Migration, Colm Brophy, in attendance. He will also be joined by Minister of State with responsibility for International Law, Law Reform and Youth Justice, Niall Collins, and Minister of State with special responsibility for Community Development and Charities, and with special responsibility for Rural Transport, Jerry Buttimer.

The Presiding Officer at the ceremonies over the next two days is Judge Paddy McMahon, who will confer the attendees with Irish Citizenship. He will administer the Declaration of Fidelity to the Irish Nation and Loyalty to the State. The new Irish citizens will undertake to faithfully observe the laws of the State and to respect its democratic values.

Speaking ahead of the ceremonies, Minister of State Brophy said:

Minister of State Collins added:

In just over two years the Citizenship Division of the department has gone from processing around 12,000 applications a year to processing over 20,000 applications in 2023, and nearly 31,000 in 2024.

Significant changes have been introduced in the Citizenship Division of the Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration to speed up the application process for applicants, including the introduction of an online digital application, online payments, and eVetting.

As a result, processing times are now decreasing year on year. The length of time it takes to process an application has dropped from 15 months in 2023 to 8 months in 2024.

Citizenship ceremonies were first introduced in 2011 in order to mark the occasion of the granting of citizenship in a dignified and solemn manner.

Over 5,200 candidates from 132 countries have been invited to attend 6 citizenship ceremonies on Monday 1 and Tuesday 2 December at the INEC Killarney.

Since citizenship ceremonies were first introduced, there has been a total of 216 ceremonies (excluding the upcoming dates) with people from over 180 countries receiving their certificates of naturalisation.

To date, including minors, approximately 222,000 people have received Irish citizenship since 2011. Following the Killarney ceremonies in December, the confirmed attendees of over 5,200 will be added to this figure.