Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

Members may be interested to hear that the pilot ceremony went well and we learned from it. Arrangements are being made in my Department for a series of ceremonies to take place during the last week in July. We are hoping in that context that hundreds of people granted citizenship and who would otherwise have to wait until late autumn before having the opportunity to formally become Irish citizens in the courts would have the opportunity to do so.

I do not want these ceremonies to be confined to Dublin, although a number of those held in July will be in Dublin, with one outside the city. I hope as we get into the early autumn there will be a ceremony in Cork and other locations. Officials in my Department are working seriously on the matter and we hope this will be the norm for the future.