With her shiny emerald-green dress and Tricolour on hand, Irish-American Nancy Riley was moments away from becoming a citizen.
“After I applied, my husband, who actually was an Irish citizen, passed away and then I got all this support from everybody in Kinsale and people just cheering me on and [now] the day has come. And I am here,” she said beaming.
“It’s an affirmation. I’m choosing to be an Irish citizen. So that’s a big statement for me.”
It was a sentiment shared by the hundreds in long queues outside Dublin’s Convention Centre on Monday morning, awaiting Irish naturalisation.
They blended ethnic clothing with flourishes of green, wore Tricolour lapel pins, miniature flags and other regalia of their new homeland.
Three ceremonies confirmed 3,000 new citizens from 131 countries. Proceedings leant heavily on Irish culture – the national anthem, harp airs and GAA references – but also stressed the importance of mixing, rather than forgetting or forgoing, original homeplaces and identities.
For many, the ritual marked something far more important than a mere certificate or passport. Filipino couple Joseph and Elisa Bultron spent 13 years apart while she worked as a nurse in Ireland as he cared for their three children thousands of miles away. Her eventual path to citizenship six years ago opened the prospect of a permanent home together.
“I’m very happy [and] honoured to be part of this country,” Joseph said, emotionally. “It’s been difficult for us ... eventually I overcame all those challenges.” He is grateful “for the inspiration of my wife that she [gave] me to work here. It’s great to serve, to help the people here because she is working in a nursing home.”
In an era when far right sympathies and protests raise concerns, Minister for Justice Helen McEntee was careful to touch on themes of welcoming and inclusivity, but also to remind attendees that in Irish history things had been very different.
“We live in a relatively young country, we are just over 100 years [old],” she said. “For many years, thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, millions of people had to leave our shores, many of them for reasons beyond their own making.”
More recently, she noted, people had chosen to make Ireland their home for myriad reasons – in search of safety; to live in an inclusive and progressive society; some because they had found love and never intended to stay so long.
Britney Lemon-Wiley, a Texan who met her Irish husband Paul on a working holiday in Ireland, did not intend to stay for 10 years. “It’s a nice day to officially become Irish,” she said.
The country’s newest citizens were encouraged to embrace the opportunity of community and to contribute, to bring new professionals, entertainers, sports stars. But in his mass conferring of recipients, retired judge Bryan MacMahon reminded them of the importance of past and heritage in a country that knows its meaning well.
“Do not forget your own country, you are not betraying your own country, your own people, your own traditions,” he said.
“Bring with you your songs, your music and your stories. We welcome them.”
Outside, shortly after the first of three ceremonies, Cork resident Chikondi Sinalo from Malawi, sporting a bright waistcoat and black trilby, reflected on the day.
“What caught me the most was when the Minister mentioned that being Irish doesn’t mean you have to forget yourself, it doesn’t mean to forget your culture,” he said. “It is a merging of lots of cultures that makes Irish culture so diverse.”
