2,000 people from more than 100 countries to be conferred with Irish citizenship today

Mon, 09 Dec, 2019 - 09:57

Anne Lucey

Some 2,000 people from more than 100 countries are being conferred with Irish citizenship today in Killarney, with the largest single grouping from Poland followed by the UK.

The ceremonies take place at the Gleneagle Hotel Convention Centre which is now the venue for the foreseeable future for the conferring ceremonies.

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

Since citizenship ceremonies were first introduced, there has been a total of 145 ceremonies, including today's ceremonies with people from over 180 countries receiving their certificates of naturalisation.

The Presiding Officer today is Retired High Court Judge Bryan McMahon..

The Minister for Justice and Equality, Charlie Flanagan, is also attending along with Minister of State, David Stanton.

To date, including minors, approximately 127,000 people have received Irish citizenship since 2011.

Top ten nationalities for Citizenship Ceremonies today: