Joe Flaherty (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Given my technical difficulties, the committee probably thinks that my contribution will be earth-shattering, particularly as I have made three desperate attempts to contribute. Hopefully, I will live up to the committee’s expectations.

My question is technical in nature. I have been contacted by a constituent who is in an unusual position in that he works with Ordnance Survey Ireland but is not technically an Irish citizen. He moved from level 4 to level 5 and there was an initial stall on this because he was not an Irish citizen but the Department of Justice resolved that. He has been advised that he would need to be an Irish citizen for this new role and he is or was not eligible to apply for citizenship until 25 May of this year, which he has now done. Obviously, the merger looks to be on track to take place on 1 January 2022. There is some concern that perhaps the issue with his citizenship will not be resolved at that stage.

It would be unfortunate for him if he was to miss out. I will follow up separately in an email to Ms Hurley and Ms Reeves with the details of this gentleman. He is very passionate about the work he does. They will be delighted to hear that he is excited about the new plans and is looking forward to contributing to them. More important, he and his family are very proudly settled in Longford so I am anxious to ensure he does not miss out on what will hopefully be an exciting new journey for this organisation. I will email the details to Ms Hurley and Ms Reeves and would appreciate it if they could look into it for me.