As most of you will know, the Government has approved drafting a bill that would raise the residence requirement for Irish citizenship from five years to eight. The reaction from the usual quarters has been wounded outrage, as though the State had proposed something monstrous rather than a requirement most of Europe would consider unremarkable.
Since the announcement, the mainstream media has run a slew of what amount to sob stories about foreigners who want Irish passports. It goes like this: a sympathetic and uncritical write-up, an assumption that regulations are bad, and the suggestion that the State is being cruel to someone who has “made Ireland their home”.