Statement Regarding next week’s Citizenship Ceremonies

The Department of Justice and Equality wishes to confirm that the Citizenship ceremonies, scheduled for the 2nd and 3rd March in the INEC Killarney, will proceed as planned.

Candidates will be notified by email or telephone today of the following:

Candidates and their guests who have returned from a COVID-19 affected region in the last 14 days, or who have been in close contact with a confirmed or probable COVID-19 case in the last 14 days, and have symptoms (a cough, shortness of breath, breathing difficulties or fever) should isolate themselves at home and phone their GP without delay, and are requested not to attend the ceremony.

The current list of COVID-19 affected regions is: Mainland China, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea, Iran and 4 regions in Northern Italy: Veneto, Lombardy, Emilia-Romagna, Piedmont. Further updates can be found here www.hse.ie.

To help limit the inconvenience caused, applicants are advised that an alternative ceremony will be held on or before 17 April.

Candidates who are availing of the alternative ceremony are asked to notify the Citizenship Division of the Department of Justice and Equality regarding their intentions, on or before 29 February.

The notification process is as follows:

• email citizenshipinfo@justice.ie
• the subject line should reference the following: Day, Time, Candidate's invitation number, for example “Monday 10.30am , 20A-43”
• citizenship will contact you within 48 hours to confirm receipt of same
• if you have not received a response from Citizenship within 48 hours, please email again

The department will continue to monitor developments; in the meantime candidates are advised to visit www.irishimmigration.ie/citizenship for status updates.

ENDS

All candidates who are due to receive their certificates of citizenship at the ceremonies on 2nd and 3rd March, will today (28 February) be contacted by email or phone, by the Department of Justice and Equality to notify them of the information in the statement above. The statement will also be uploaded to the department’s website and highlighted through all available communication channels.