Government plans to introduce ceremonies for people wanting to become UK citizens had the potential to “damage community and race relations in Northern Ireland”, a Stormont official warned in 2003. The official said the proposal to have “low-key” citizenship ceremonies at Hillsborough, Co Down, was a “tacit admission” of this and instead suggested allowing a “block exemption” from compulsory attendance in the region.
Tony Blair’s Labour government introduced the ceremonies for those seeking UK citizenship, with the first ceremonies taking place in 2004, involving participants singing the national anthem and swearing allegiance to Queen Elizabeth II. Prior to the law being introduced, the Home Office sent a consultation document to devolved regions in July 2003, setting out its plans for naturalisation applicants to take a citizenship oath and pledge at the citizenship ceremony.
Devolved power sharing institutions in Northern Ireland were suspended at the time. Newly declassified files show Ken Fraser, a civil servant at the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister (OFMDFM), sent an internal email to official Linda Devlin setting out his “worries” about the plan.
In the email, he said the exclusion of Irish from a list of languages that applicants would be required to have some knowledge of was “puzzling” and seemed “difficult to justify”. He added: “The consultation document states that the Government believes it would be right to agree that elements such as national symbols and the national anthem should feature in the ceremony…..and many of those becoming citizens would expect to see the same here.
