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After decades of finely balanced procrastination, the U2 guitarist The Edge has officially become Irish.
The 63-year-old British subject was conferred with Irish citizenship on Monday, 62 years after moving to Ireland in a step he said was “long overdue”.
U2 may be a symbol of Ireland, and The Edge’s woolly caps may verge on national treasure status, but David Howell Evans had not been a citizen until now.
“I’m a little tardy with the paperwork,” he told reporters after a conferring ceremony in Killarney, County Kerry. “I’ve been living in Ireland now since I was one year old. But the time is right. And I couldn’t be more proud of my country for all that it represents and all that it is doing.”
Evans was born in England to Welsh parents but has considered himself Irish – and Ireland his home – since he was a toddler.
He formed U2 in 1976 with three Dublin classmates – Paul Hewson, better known as Bono, Larry Mullen Jr and Adam Clayton – and went on to record Sunday Bloody Sunday and other songs that became Irish anthems.
Evans, however, never got around to applying for citizenship. “Honestly, there were many moments in the past when I could have done it with just the form to be filled out but I’m happy it’s now, it feels more significant,” he said.
Wearing an Irish tricolour clip, Evans swore an oath of loyalty and fidelity to the Irish state with hundreds of other newly created citizens in the Gleneagle arena – one of several back-to-back ceremonies that will confer citizenship on 7,500 people on Monday and Tuesday.
He said the ceremony had been very moving and especially significant for him because of Ireland’s support for multilateral organisations, such as the international criminal court and the UN, and for “speaking truth to power”.
“I have always felt Irish, Ireland will always be home to me and I’m so grateful for that,” he said. Ireland was showing real leadership in the world, he said. “It couldn’t come at a better moment for me so I am just so happy to be at this point, to be in even deeper connection with my homeland.”
Critics of U2 say the band’s tax arrangements, which route some income not generated in Ireland overseas, undermine its commitment to the country.
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The 7,500 applicants at the Kerry ceremonies come from more than 143 countries, with the biggest number from Indiawith 1,888, followed by Brazil with 817, the UK 516, the Philippines 480, Romania 470, and Poland 396. They include shop assistants, meat plant workers and financiers.
The minister for justice, home affairs and migration, Jim O’Callaghan, said the ceremonies were milestones that would connect the new citizens to their adopted homeland. He said: “It is a great privilege to become a citizen of this country and obviously with it comes responsibilities and duties, and I think everyone who is taking on citizenship will be aware of that.”
His comments came amid a growing backlash against immigration in the US and Europe, including Ireland and Northern Ireland. Thousands of protesters attended a rally in central Dublin on Sunday, some holding banners saying “Ireland is full”, others with caps saying “Make Ireland Great Again”.
