The Department of Justice has admitted that it does not collate statistics on the number of people granted Irish citizenship through naturalisation whose application included a report of a criminal conviction abroad.
The Minister for Justice told Independent TD Carol Nolan that as the statistics are not collated, he could not provide the number of foreign nationals who had been given Irish citizenship in 2024 who had included information of a prior criminal convictions abroad in their application.
“Accordingly, the specific information requested is not available,” Minister Jim O’Callaghan said today.
Citizenship through naturalisation is the legal process by which a non-national becomes a citizen of Ireland, usually requiring 5 years of legal residence in Ireland out of the last 9 years.
Carol Nolan TD described the failure to collate statistics on reports of criminal convictions abroad in regard to citizenship applications as an “egregious lack of oversight” – adding that “the department cannot tell us with any degree of certainty how many of those had criminal records.”
“This is an egregious lack of oversight on the departments behalf and a demonstration, yet again, that its internal record system is grossly deficient when it comes to accessing the kind of granular detail we would expect to be available,” she said.
“Hundreds of thousands of people have received naturalised citizenship since 2011 and the yet the department cannot tell us with any degree of certainty how many of those had criminal records. It simply beggars belief.”
Citizenship ceremonies were first introduced in 2011, and almost 200,000 people from over 180 countries have received their certificates of naturalisation since that time.The top 10 nationalities of applicants are: India, United Kingdom, Brazil, Romania, Poland, Nigeria, the Philippines, South Africa, China and the United States.
Deputy Nolan had asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the number of foreign nationals naturalised in 2024 who had prior criminal convictions abroad.
In response, the Minister said “the granting of Irish citizenship through naturalisation is governed by the provisions of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956, as amended. All applications for a certificate of naturalisation are processed and assessed individually in accordance with the provisions of the Act, including the requirement that applicants satisfy the good character criterion under Section 15.”
“As part of the naturalisation application, an applicant is required to detail all offences, regardless of where an incident occurred, or how long ago, including “spent” convictions. The Act does not provide that a criminal offence in itself precludes the granting of naturalisation,” he added.
“All adult applicants must undertake An Garda Síochána vetting processes as deemed necessary. As part of the good character assessment, An Garda Síochána is requested to make enquiries into the applicant’s background, the detail and extent of which is a matter for An Garda Síochána.”
“My Department does not collate statistics on the number of people granted Irish citizenship through naturalisation whose application included a report of a criminal conviction abroad. Accordingly, the specific information requested is not available.”
“I recently received Government approval to make legislative change in this area and among the measures I will be taking is to to clearly define what constitutes “good character” in the naturalisation process. This will clarify the application process for applicants, and the decision-making process for officials,” the Minister said.