Five months ago, Donnah Vuma travelled from her home in Limerick to attend a citizenship ceremony in Co Kerry.
The former asylum seeker, who spent eight years going through the international protection system, joined almost 5,000 people from across the globe in Killarney becoming citizens of the State.
“It was so significant for me; I remember during the ceremony it was said: ‘Your immigration journey has come to an end.’ Every time I think about that it feels like a massive weight has come off,” she says.
Vuma is one of the more than 11,400 people who have become Irish citizens so far this year, making her eligible to vote in a general election for the first time.
Vuma, an unsuccessful Social Democrats candidate in the local elections in June, Vuma knows how she will vote.
“Ireland has been good to me. But there are certain areas that are lacking and if we’re not voting for change, we’ll be stuck in a continuous cycle of disappointment,” she says.
Vuma is a single mother whose number one issue in the election is childcare.
“I’m a migrant with very little resources or family support,” she says. “Childcare’s the pillar that withholds my access to everything. Without adequate childcare I’m not able to participate fully.”
Kelli Monteiro, a Brazilian who has lived in Ireland for 11 years, says one reason she applied for citizenship was to vote in general elections and referendums.
“Democracy is hard fought. So it’s important for me to have a say here, even a small one.”
Security and immigration are both important issues for Monteiro. “I live in Dublin city centre and it’s becoming a mess. I wouldn’t go near half of O’Connell Street in the evening. Racism has existed for years but it’s getting stronger and that worries me,” she says.
“I hear the racist and xenophobic slurs on the streets. Trump has now been elected, he started with ‘America first’. Now we’re hearing ‘Ireland first’, ‘Ireland is full’. Everything is blamed on immigrants.”
Monteiro is considering voting for either People Before Profit or Sinn Féin but has yet to decide.
“I see Simon Harris saying I’m going to do something new and I think: ‘You’re already in power, why didn’t you do it before now?’”
Marcin Jezewski, who moved to Ireland from Poland in 2008 and became an Irish citizen last year, says he will only vote for candidates who support Ireland’s role within the European Union.
“The European Union is how I got here; it’s how I stayed here,” he says.
As the head of operations for the Rehab group, Jezewski would also like to see the next Government provide more supports to people with disabilities entering the workforce.
A homeowner in Longford town, he says many of his Polish friends have been unable to save for a mortgage and wants to see the housing deficit properly addressed.
Luz Pereira, who became an Irish citizen in 2021, says her beliefs align with the National Women’s Council’s election manifesto, which includes calls for the transformation of women’s health, guaranteed reproductive rights, an end to violence against women and the delivery of public childcare.
Pereira, a leader of the Women of Brazil in Ireland group, says the current childcare model “impacts on a woman’s independence and her ability to be part of society”.
The next government must also address the additional barriers migrant women face when securing safe, affordable housing, particularly those in abusive relationships, she says.
The Green Party is her first choice for now, followed by Fine Gael.
“I’m trying to get other new citizens to vote,” she says. “I’ve been asking people to make sure they are registered. It’s important to have our voices heard.”
Sharon Mpofu, who also became an Irish citizen at the Killarney ceremony in June, wants to see more support for families in rented accommodation.
After leaving international protection, she sent about 60 applications a week seeking accommodation and only managed to arrange one or two viewings.
“It took me six months to get a response when I was applying for a HAP [State-supported housing assistance payments] house. Particularly people from minority communities, we never get a response.”
She will only vote for a candidate with a pro-immigration stance.
“After the riots I was afraid to go out,” she says, of the Dublin riots a year ago. “The community should come together and show migrants are not here to commit crimes, they’re here to help build Ireland.”
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