Irish and Leinster rugby winger James Lowe and his wife Arnica Palmer were among thousands of people to receive Irish citizenship at a ceremony in the Convention Centre in Dublin on Friday. The pair, who were both born in New Zealand, joined applicants from over 130 countries to make their declaration of fidelity and loyalty to the State at one of six ceremonies held this week. The ceremonies were all presided over by Judge Mary Irvine, In a post on X, the Department of Justice congratulated Lowe the “legend”, his wife and all those who were granted citizenship this week. Lowe joined Leinster in 2017 and won both the European Champions Cup and the Pro14 league with the team in 2018. He became eligible to play for the national team under residency rules in 2020. He has a won a Grand Slam with Ireland in 2023 and the Six Nations championship last year. Arnica Palmer, meanwhile, works in the legal department at Bank of Ireland. In just over two years the Citizenship Division of the Department of Justice has gone from processing around 12,000 applications a year to processing over 20,000 applications in 2023, and nearly 31,000 in 2024.