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Next protest · Leinster House
Tuesday 3 November at 1, at the gates
An hour outside Leinster House on Kildare Street, 1 to 2, called by the Migrant Rights Centre Ireland and six other organisations, and we stand with them. Bring a sign, and bring whoever will come with you. On Sunday 18 October we walked from the Spire to these gates; at the gates on 30 September we talked with TDs and Senators on their way in, and that afternoon 35 TDs spoke in the Dáil’s statements on citizenship: where each of them stands now, and what they said, word for word.
The plan
At the gates, 30 SeptemberPublished 21 September 2026 · The General Scheme
The General Scheme is out. It is a lot more than eight years.
Eight years instead of five, nothing for people already here, a language test, a civics test, an income floor and a new ground to strip citizenship. What each Head does →
The Bill itself is still not written: nothing has reached the Oireachtas yet. Meanwhile 8,765 people applied for citizenship in September, against 2,611 in August70, and the Minister says a “more generous scheme” for people close to qualifying is only “something that we’re considering”71. No transitional rule exists. The latest news →
The core objection
If you’re here now, this catches you.
If you have been here for four years and ten months by the time the laws are changed and commenced, it will affect you. That’s the truth of the matter. Jim O’Callaghan TD, Minister for Justice12
Portugal tried exactly this last December and lost. Its Constitutional Court threw the clause out: you cannot change the rules on people who planned their lives around them. The court called it legal certainty, foreseeability and legitimate expectation. We call it fairness.2324
One of us
“It feels a little bit like a page out of Trump’s playbook: let’s give someone a common enemy, the immigrant.”
Nick moved to Limerick from Massachusetts in 2024 with his husband Brendan. They sold their home in the US on the understanding they could apply for citizenship after five years. He works in tech on a Critical Skills permit; Brendan’s permission is attached to it. The Government, he says, is moving “the finish line seemingly out of nowhere”.41
Nick wrote the letter to your TD on this site, and is on Instagram as @wayfaringandwhiskey.
TD replies · as of 22 October 2026
Where the TDs stand.
129 TDs and Senators, sorted by what they actually committed to. 30 oppose the eight years outright; 29 are for it.
- 30 Oppose 5 → 8
- 26 Pushing a transition
- 36 No position
- 29 Support 5 → 8
- 8 No reply seen
The rest of the case
One page for each part of it.
What the General Scheme does
Ten Heads, from eight years of residence to a new ground for revoking citizenship. Where the Bill is now, and what eight years means for one person arriving this year.
Head by Head →What they say, what the numbers say
The claims made for eight years set against the published research, where it would put Ireland in Europe, and the nurses, doctors and engineers it lands on.
The evidence →On the street
Every protest so far, with the photos, and two posters to print for a noticeboard or pass round a WhatsApp group.
Protests and posters →Who is saying it
Dated coverage since the Scheme landed, and the organisations, unions and writers making the same case.
News and allies →