Digital Desk Staff
There have been calls for immigrant frontline workers to be awarded Irish citizenship.
The measure has been taken in France and Canada, as a way of rewarding those working during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Migrants currently make up 26 per cent of essential workers in Ireland.
Ivana Bacik, Labour spokesperson on Children, Disability, Equality and Integration, says it would be a positive change.
"Over the past year we have seen so many of our frontline workers being made up of people from new communities in Ireland, some of whom are undocumented and don't have certainty about their residency status here.
"In the Labour Party, we have been pushing for some time for a more generous approach to citizenship laws."
In France, more than 700 people have already received, or are in the final stages of receiving French citizenship, including healthcare workers, cleaners and shop assistants.
