Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan’s pitch to make the process of obtaining Irish citizenship more lengthy – from five years to eight – and Taoiseach Micheál Martin’s strangely woolly reasoning for this is best viewed as part of what’s happening in the world and country we live in. We are in a rocky era characterised by authoritarian movements and nativist sentiments.

Authoritarian movements may take on various shapes depending on jurisdiction but they are united in an aversion to complexity and diversity. Given the role of the digital sphere – a force which homogenises as well as acts as a catalyst for contagion – it’s not surprising that such movements borrow from each other and replicate events, tactics and rhetoric from place to place. These movements have grown in noise as well as influence.

Plenty of evidence from history and the present day shows us that so-called centrist politicians, even softly humming the melodies of the authoritarian far-right’s tunes, hastens the spread. And why wouldn’t it? Appeasement doesn’t have the best reputation, not least in Europe.

A government, at this moment in time, stating it is making it harder for immigrants to become citizens takes on an additional meaning and cannot be separated from the wider context. Such a policy is a signal.

Although those with the power to enact such policies here are clearly not in alignment with violent and racist authoritarian forces, this action still offers a little breeze at those backs, whether that is the intention or not. It is a policy in tune with the energy of the scapegoater, the nativist, the ethno-nationalist, the close-the-borders keyboard-basher, the Reform ranter, the cult of Maga, the AfD authoritarianism-nostalgist and the “get them out” Temu Tricolour-waver.

Martin’s reasoning that such a policy would be about “bringing us more in line with other European member states” might sound reasonable, but it is disingenuous.

First, there is a lot of variance regarding the length of time it may take an immigrant from outside the European Union to become a citizen of any member state. Second, why is being in line with the European Union (given the diversity of citizenship processes in each country) so important on this specific issue? There is no directive from the European Union about how long it should take someone to become a citizen of any European Union country. There are, however, several things we should be in line with but are not.

For example, in October 2024, the European Commission sent a letter of formal notice to Ireland about transposing into Irish law a Council framework decision on combating racism and xenophobia in relation to criminal offences. What ultimately happened was that Ireland separated out hate crime from hate speech, which was an act of political cowardice. In May 2025, the European Commission escalated the case by issuing Ireland with a reasoned opinion, saying Ireland had two months to implement the framework decision on racism and xenophobia. The Irish Government wrote back, saying the laws on hate crimes “are effectively transposed”. The word “effectively” is doing a lot of heavy lifting there.

New rules for Irish citizenship: How will they work?

In fact, there are 22 European directives that Ireland is currently late on, and the European Commission has 54 infringement cases open against Ireland for either issues with how legislation interpreting directives was drafted, or for lateness in writing directives into law. How’s that for “bringing in line”?

And what about attempting to deal with the main aspect of this, which is racism? Irish racism is not unique. It shows up like any other racism. How seriously does the Government take this?

Jim O’Callaghan can look to UK to see if making life hard for immigrants helps integration

Between 2025 and 2026, funding for projects and initiatives to address racism through the Ireland Against Racism fund, which was established as part of the National Action Plan Against Racism 2023-2027 (NAPAR), was reduced. Funding decreased from €1.53 million to €1.4 million. For context, €1.4 million is equivalent to less than half a day’s cost of the current fuel excise cuts.

Last February, a 140-page report on the progress of NAPAR was published. A big issue was identified. Although the governance structure of NAPAR requires collaboration across departments, the report said several departments had yet to recognise or act upon their cross-cutting responsibilities with regards to the action plan, “thereby weakening the intended whole-of-government coherence of the plan.” In short, multiple departments – including the Department of the Taoiseach – weren’t up to scratch. Maybe they need to be brought in line?

O’Callaghan is given to performative politics. What he’s proposing around citizenship is an example of such posturing. In practical terms, it will be another bureaucratic obstacle for people. But its other meaning is arbitrary cruelty-by-admin. It also exposes how little the Government is doing to address the issue of racism in our society. I suppose it’s easier to meddle with processes that look “tough” than take responsibility for the fundamental meanness in our society.