Over 30,000 Citizenship decisions made in 2024, the most made in a single year since records began.
More than 6,000 people to be naturalised in Killarney this week.
Digitisation of services have resulted in significantly improved service.
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 197 Ceremonies (inclusive) with people from over 180 countries receiving their certificates of naturalisation. To date, over 191,000 people have received Irish citizenship since 2011; 108 of whom are resident in Co. Tipperary.
This year will see a record number of people take the final steps towards receiving their Irish citizenship, with over 30,000 decisions made in 2024. The numbers represent a significant increase on the 20,000 decisions made in 2023, and is nearly double the number of decisions made in 2022.
This Monday and Tuesday alone, over 6,000 new Irish citizens will be granted citizenship in seven ceremonies being held at the INEC Killarney. The Ceremonies will see applicants from 140 countries around the world, and living in 32 counties on the island of Ireland, being conferred as Irish citizens.
The Presiding Officers at the ceremonies over the next two days are retired Justice Mr Paddy McMahon, and retired President of the High Court, Ms Mary Irvine, latter who will confer the attendees with Irish Citizenship. Both 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.
Significant changes have been introduced in the Citizenship Divisionof the Department of Justice to speed up the application process for applicants, including the introduction of an online digital application, online payments, and eVetting. Going forward, it is envisaged that the majority of applications based on residency will receive a decision within 12 months.
It is important to note that no two applications are the same, and some take longer than others to process. Applicants are required to have 5 years reckonable residence in the State prior to making an application. Citizenship Division has held 24 citizenship ceremonies this year, an increase from the 15 ceremonies held last year, and the 6 that were held in 2022.
More information on the application process is available at the following link shown HERE.
A domestic violence survivor, (who cannot be named publicly, due to court-ordered reporting restrictions), is suing Tipperary County Council over its housing policy. The female claims she was denied social housing after leaving her home and has now been granted leave to bring judicial review proceedings against Tipperary County Council.
The woman was forced to leave her former local authority home, before entered a domestic violence refuge. She now remains homeless, residing in emergency Bed and breakfast accommodation. Having sought social housing under her own name and having explained her situation, the council required her to surrender her joint tenancy, before it would consider her new application for housing supports.
The applicant claims to have complied with Tipperary Co. Councils instructions, but was excluded from consideration for social housing for one year, on the grounds that she had voluntarily surrendered her tenancy. The woman’s legal team argue that the surrender in this case was not voluntary and that the council’s decision now breaches administrative and human rights law, which in turn amounts to an unlawful fettering of its discretion, through the application of an inflexible policy to all victims of domestic violence.
The legal team, representing the woman in the High Court on Tuesday morning last (November 26th, 2024) sought and were granted leave for a judicial review by High Court Justice Mr Garrett Simons, who stated that the applicant appeared to have been placed in a ‘Catch-22’ situation.
Thurles Gardaí are seeking witnesses, following a road traffic collision in Thurles, Co. Tipperary on Saturday evening last. Gardaí and emergency services were called to the scene of the collision, which occurred on Friar Street, involving a car and a male pedestrian, just after 7:00pm. Friar Street, west of Liberty Square, in Thurles was immediately cordoned off, for a period of time, to allow for the emergency services to fully respond.
Friar Street, Thurles, Co. Tipperary at 5:00pm this evening. Pic: G. Willoughby
The pedestrian was taken immediately to Tipperary University Hospital and is understood, thankfully, to have sustained non-life threatening injuries.
While not necessarily contributing to this collision; Friar Street in Thurles town is regarded by many local residents as being poorly illuminated, once the surrounding local businesses close their places of trading each evening.
Gardaí are particularly interested in making contact with witnesses with who may have dash cam or other video footage, same taken from during or around the time of the collision. Gardaí can be contacted at Thurles Garda station, Tel: 0504 25100.
Gardaí in Thurles, Co. Tipperary are investigating all the circumstances, following the discovery of a body on Friday morning last, November 22nd, 2024.
Approximate area North of St Mary’s Church, Thurles, where the body was located. Pic. G. Willoughby.
The body of the man, aged in his 40s, we understand was located at approximately 8:40am in a private dead-end, lane way, off Ikerrin Road (formerly Limekiln Road), close to the junction with Mitchel Street (known formerly as Quarry Street), in Thurles town.
The body of the man was removed from the scene to the mortuary at University Hospital Limerick, where a post-mortem examination has since taken place, the results of which are not being released for operational reasons.
A file will now be prepared for the Coroner’s office.
In total seven sites have been identified as National Priorities for enforcement by the EPA in Q3 2024.
Seven Sites were identified as National Priority Sites in Q3 2024; three were from the Food & Drink Sector, two from the Intensive Agriculture Sector, one from the Waste Sector and one from the Anaerobic Digestion Sector.
The most common issues identified at these sites were non-compliant discharges to water and facility management.
A site’s presence on the National Priority Sites List indicates a poor level of licence compliance.
Today, the Environmental Protection Agency(EPA) published its National Priority Sites list for quarter three, 2024. The National Priority Sites (NPS) System is a system of performance-based indicators to rank industrial and waste licensed sites in order of priority for enforcement. This allows the EPA to target its enforcement effort at the licensed operators with the poorest environmental performance.
Commenting on the publication, Dr. Tom Ryan, Director, EPA’s Office of Environmental Enforcement said: “Our enforcement activities are risk based and we prioritise sites that are not complying with their licence. As noted in the EPA’s recent State of the Environment Report, a disproportionate number of sites on the National Priority Sites list have been from the dairy processing and waste sectors. This trend continued in Quarter 3 2024. The seven sites on the current list will be the subject of targeted enforcement action to ensure that the environmental issues are addressed, and compliance is restored.”
MsPamela McDonnell, Programme Manager of the EPA’s Industrial Licence Enforcement Programme said: “Three of the sites on the National Priority Sites List, North Cork Co-Op Creameries Limited, Tipperary Co-operative Creamery Limited, and Aurivo Consumer Foods Limited, are milk processing sites. Each of these has featured on the National Priority Sites List previously. Milk and milk effluent pose a significant risk to local streams and rivers if it is not carefully managed. The dairy sector must prioritise investment in environmental controls to prevent the discharge of polluting material. This remains a priority issue for the EPA”.
Other sites on the National Priority Sites list also pose a risk to water quality. The waste sites on the list include a non-hazardous waste transfer station and an anaerobic digestion facility. Both sites failed to provide sufficient infrastructure to protect groundwater and surface water.
Similarly, at the two intensive agriculture sites on the list, poor management of waste and storm water increased the risk of contaminated discharges.
The list of National Priority Sites for Q3 2024 is in Table 1 below:
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