SOME 2,000 PEOPLE from 103 countries will become Irish citizens at ceremonies in Co Kerry today.
Such ceremonies were put on hold after High Court judge Mr Justice Max Barrett ruled in July that anyone applying for citizenship could not spend a day outside Ireland in the 12 months before applying.
Last month the Court of Appeal overturned this ruling, calling it “unduly rigid” and “unworkable” .
Today’s ceremonies will take place at 11.30am and 2.25pm at the Convention Centre in Killarney.
Justice and Equality Minister Charlie Flanagan and Minister of State David Stanton will attend the events, which will be presided over by retired High Court Judge Bryan McMahon.
This is the second year when large-scale citizenship ceremonies have been held outside Dublin. The Convention Centre in Killarney will be the location for large citizenship ceremonies in the future.
Citizenship ceremonies were first introduced in 2011. There have been 145 ceremonies (including today) since then with people from over 180 countries receiving their certificates of naturalisation.
Approximately 127,000 people, including minors, have received Irish citizenship in the last 18 years.
The top nationalities that will be represented at today’s ceremonies include Poland, the UK, Romania, India and Nigeria.
Thousands more people are expected to receive Irish citizenship in early 2020 following the backlog created by temporary suspension of ceremonies.
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