Ireland's doors are open to all peoples from all around the world, Minister of State John Halligan has told a gathering of the country's newest citizens.
Speaking at a ceremony in Waterford city which saw almost 670 people from over 50 countries conferred with Irish citizenship, Mr Halligan said Ireland is "a place of diversity, openness, warmth, and welcome".
The Government is committed to respecting all traditions on this island equally, he added, and to developing "a great understanding of our shared history, in all its diversity".
He referred to Ireland's own history of emigration and pointed out that the first Irish tricolour was flown at 33 The Mall, Waterford, in 1848 by Thomas Francis Meagher, who said his "most poignant memory," according to Mr Halligan, "was seeing famine ships leave the quay in Waterford. I am sure the significance would not be lost on him of this ceremony today, where we are welcoming migrants into Ireland, to become citizens".
At the conclusion of his speech, Mr Halligan went off-script to assure the gathering: "Our doors are open to all peoples from all over the world."
Presiding over the citizenship ceremony in the WIT Arena, retired High Court Judge Bryan McMahon said that since these ceremonies began in 2011, over 120,000 people from 161 countries have become Irish citizens.
"I look forward to the day when some of your children, or your children's children, take to the field at Croke Park on an All-Ireland hurling team, or football team, or camogie team," he told those gathered.
The country with the highest representation of people receiving their certificates of naturalisation was Poland (119), followed by the UK (116). Natives of Romania, India, Nigeria, Latvia, Brazil, and China also featured prominently.
