New Irish citizens celebrated at Mayo ceremony
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Hakeem Mukhtar played at the celebrations. Photos: Alison LaredoImage 2 of 5
Presentation to Amal Dali Ahmad.Image 3 of 5
Jaafar and Fatima receive presentation from Deputy Michael Ring.Image 4 of 5
New Irish citizens Khaled and Samer.Image 5 of 5
A day of celebration for Manar and Fadi.SOUTH West Mayo Development Company (SWMDC) recently hosted a special event to celebrate 50 people in Mayo gaining their Irish citizenship over the past 18 months.
During the pandemic, formal citizenship ceremonies were cancelled, and new Irish citizens received their certificates of naturalisation in the post. Therefore, to mark this significant personal achievement, SWMDC organised an in-person citizenship event in the Linenhall, Castlebar.
As guest of honour, Deputy Michael Ring invited people to publicly swear their oath of allegiance and presented each family with a Mayo book as a memento of the day.
He said: “This event is an important public recognition of our new citizens. I have long supported the Syrian community in Mayo and am honoured to have the opportunity to welcome them formally as Irish citizens.
“I know they will make a valuable contribution to our community, county, and our country and I wish them every success for the future.”
The new citizens are mainly Syrian refugees who arrived in Ireland in 2016 and 2017. They were resettled in Mayo under the Irish government’s Irish Refugee Protection Programme and Mayo County Council’s Refugee Resettlement Programme. SWMDC delivered the programme across Mayo and continues to support new refugees via its Welcoming and Including New Communities Programme (WIN).
Sabina Trench, SWMDC CEO, said: “This day marks a milestone for the company and staff who supported the new citizens from the first day they arrived in County Mayo. When they arrived, many didn’t speak a word of English, were traumatised by the war, and had very little knowledge of Ireland, let alone Mayo. Now they are part of our community, and they are all very proud of their Irish citizenship.
“We are very privileged to have played our part in their success story. I would like to acknowledge the work of Rachel Rose, Halim Bouacha and Patricia Quinn in more recent years on their important work with migrant communities in County Mayo.”
The event included music by John Hoban and Hakeem Mukhtar who played traditional Irish and Iraqi music.
Wishing all our new Irish citizens a céad míle fáilte!