SINN FÉIN LEADER Mary Lou McDonald has said that her party is open to reviewing pathways to how people become citizens of Ireland.

The Dublin Central TD was speaking from Malahide, where Sinn Féin is holding its annual party think-in to discuss priorities for the new Dáil term. 

Her comments come as proposed changes to the requirements for Irish citizenship go before cabinet this morning. 

Currently, those seeking Irish citizenship must be resident in the country for five years. This is to change to eight years and will also require a language test.

Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan said the language test will show if people have a proficiency in English, Irish or Irish Sign Language. 

Asked about the proposed changes on RTÉ Radio 1′s Morning Ireland, Mary Lou McDonald said her party has “no objection to having a structured pathway” to achieving citizenship. 

“Of course, gaining citizenship anywhere is a very serious step. It’s a great honour. It’s an honour to be an Irish citizen.”

She said Sinn Féin is “certainly open to reviewing pathways” to citizenship and making sure that they are “fair and reasonable”.

“I think, myself, of things like integration into the community, things like a working knowledge of Gaeilge or English or ISA. I think all of those things are reasonable, but that’s not really where we would have put or have put the priority,” she said. 

We have argued for systems that are fair, that are effective, that are resourced, systems that are responsive to community needs, and of course, the system that is always and ever vigorously and avowedly anti-racist.

McDonald criticised the government for placing vulnerable international protection applicants “into communities that were literally bereft and struggling” in many cases, adding that her party had advocated for ”a fair and reasonable assessment of what exists in a community”.

‘Communities told us they weren’t hearing enough’

An extract from a book written by a former Sinn Féin adviser Siobhán Fenton was put to her, which said the party did not have a coherent policy on immigration to articulate. 

McDonald acknowledged that “there was a point in time where our communities said to us very, very clearly that they were not hearing enough from us with sufficient clarity on these questions”. 

“I acknowledged that that was a shortfall, and we have worked very hard to put that right,” she said, arguing that the party had since set out “very clearly” an approach that “always listens to communities and to people on the ground”. 

“We wish to see systems that are efficient, that are properly resourced, that you have a rule book, that you apply it, that that rule book is respectful and human rights compliant.”

She added that when people come here to work and live, they should be treated well and respectfully and that the state “do everything we can to embrace and integrate people” that seek refuge, but that those who don’t qualify must leave the country.

McDonald was also asked about the upcoming budget and what measures her party would propose to help people struggling to cope with rising costs. 

She said their focus was on ensuring “that working people and that families come first” and was finalising a number of measures, including removing the first €40,000 of income from the levying of universal social credit.

She said the government was currently “leaving big money behind”, pointing to “vulture funds” that invest in large rental developments.

“We think it is absolutely scandalous that the rent roll accruing from those extortionate rents does not attract corporate tax. That is the government currently leaving behind more than €300 million in tax that ought to be paid to the Irish state.”

‘Success’ of opposition parties cooperating

She was also asked what efforts Sinn Féin was making with other parties to lead a left-wing government after the next general election, which is set to take place in 2030. 

McDonald said the last Dáil term “has been one like no other in respect of the level of cooperation between parties in opposition”.

“I never recall a Dáil in which ourselves in Sinn Féin and others came together with such regularity or had success in areas like assessment of needs, special education, pushing back against that ruse around Michael Lowry and the attempt to be in government in opposition at the same time.”

But she said it was a work in progress, and emphasised that every party “will go into the next election individually on our own platforms”.

“All of that political cooperation has to be developed and has to evolve.”

She added: “I believe that there is still an appetite and the potential and the necessity for government beyond Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael.

“I understand that that view is held by others, and I think it’s in our collective interest, and more importantly, in Ireland’s interest, that we work together to make that a real possibility and a real alternative option for voters when the election occurs.”