Applying for naturalisation when spouse on temp stamp 4

Hi Guys.

My wife arrived to Ireland in June and has already secured a job, PPS no. and has received her temporary IRP card.

Myself, I have been living in Ireland for the last 14 years and would like to apply for an Irish citizenship.

My question is, since my wife is still awaiting for her permanent IRP card, would that prohibit me from applying for the citizenship through naturalisation?

If I am granted the citizenship, would that complicate things a lot for us, in terms of her having to go through a completely different and lenghty process of applying for work permits, residence permits etc?

From my understanding, it is more "lenient" getting permission to remain and work in the Republic of Ireland if you apply through the Free Movement Directive rather than a non EU spouse of an Irish citizen. Am I correct in saying this?

How much different would a process be next year if I was granted the Irish citizenship and my wife would be residing here based on her Stamp 4 EU fam?

No, there is no correlation or dependency on your citizenship application and her immigration stamp.

If you are approved (which probably won't happen in 12 months anyway based on the current turnaround time), you are still treated as an EU National as opposed to an Irish National, as long as you still exercise your EU Treaty Rights.

So from my understanding, applying for an Irish passport will have absolutely no impact on my wife's residence simply because I will be holding a dual citizenship and her residency would purely be based on my Polish and not the Irish passport?

No. It will have no impact on your wife's residency if and only if you have been exercising your EU Treaty Rights.

To exercise your EU Treaty Rights, you must be working, studying, or residing with sufficient funds.

If you decide you want to quit your job, apply for social benefits for a few months, then you are no longer exercising your treaty rights.

Once you stop exercising your treaty rights, as an Irish National you cannot get that right back in Ireland.

But I thought that the whole point of exercising your EU Treaty rights (Free Movement Directive) was that if you're an EU national working in another EU country other than your own, then your non EU spouse has a right under this directive to travel with you and reside in the country with you under some conditions. Which is what we've done by applying for her EU Fam.

Once I become an Irish citizen then this directive no longer applies to me since I then become an Irish citizen and would be treated under national law and not the European law?

Sorry but I found your answer a bit confusing. Apologies!

As I said, you are currently exercising your EU Treaty rights because you are Polish.
Once you are naturalised (therefore becoming a dual national), you can still exercise your EU Treaty rights under your Polish nationality, as long as you are exercising your treaty rights continuously.

However, if you stop exercising your treaty rights after you are naturalised, by stopping working and taking up social benefits for example, you will be treated solely as an Irish national. You cannot exercise treaty rights in Ireland ever again because you are an Irish national.