THE GOVERNMENT should actively encourage immigrants to become Irish citizens in order to further the social integration process, a new report has recommended.
The study on political parties and immigrants, carried out on behalf of the Migration and Citizenship Initiative at UCD, found that naturalisation rates were low in the Republic and this hindered the participation of newcomers in society.
“A sense of belonging can hardly be achieved without achieving the naturalisation of a large proportion of immigrants,” the report said.
“In its absence, the danger is that divisive distinctions between ‘nationals’ and ‘non-nationals’ may undermine efforts to promote future social cohesion.”
Foreign nationals can vote in local elections, but in parliamentary elections the franchise is restricted to citizens.
One of the report’s authors, Dr Bryan Fanning, a senior lecturer in the school of applied social science at UCD, said that unless many more immigrants got the vote in general elections, they were likely to be ignored “as they were in the 2007 general election”.
“I think the Government should be offering more positive leadership here,” he said. “All of us are in this downturn together. People are not going to magically disappear. They are here for the duration.”
Dr Fanning was speaking yesterday at a round-table discussion on the local elections hosted by Forum Polonia, a network of groups and individuals involved with the Polish community. The event was attended by MEPs Eoin Ryan and Gay Mitchell, as well as Polish local election candidates, party activists and journalists.
Emilia Marchelewska from Forum Polonia, which has been running a voter registration drive, said its aim was to encourage Poles living in Ireland to express themselves on the future of their adopted communities.
“We are the second-largest immigrant community, so it’s very important that our voice will be heard – that Polish people will say what are their issues, what are their hopes, what are the challenges in the local communities where they live.
“You don’t want a particular community to be marginalised just because nobody can hear what we have to say.”
The UCD report also recommended that the practice of requiring gardaí to stamp registration forms for the supplemental electoral register should end.
“Some migrants, owing to experiences in their home country, may be distrustful of fearful of police,” it concluded.