more than 70 days outside Ireland

[joshbha]

Hi, Sorry if this has already been discussed but I couldn't find any answer so I'm asking again.

I am a Non-EU national applying for my Irish naturalisation based on 5 years residency.
According to the residency calculator, as it only calculates the duration of stamps, I am now eligible to apply for the process. To give you context, I came to Ireland as a student in January 2019, graduating in Feb 2020 which is when I got my first stamp 1. I went to visit my family in March 2020 but then due to the pandemic, flights weren't operational globally. When the flights first resumed back in August, I took it and came back to Ireland. I was out of the country for exactly 5 months.
I read somewhere that we can't be outside the country for more than 70 days a year if applying for citizenship. Can someone share if this rule applies in my case (which I think it does). Also, what is my best course of action in this situation? Should I go ahead and still apply as I have all the documents I need, meet the 150 points each year and the calculator says I am eligible or.... (Idk and confused)?

Thanks for your help with this. Hoping to learn from the group

[nisi]

So, you have to have been continuously resident in Ireland with less than 70 days spent outside the country for exactly 1 year immediately before you apply.

In addition to this you have to have been in Ireland for 4 out of the previous 8 years. You can typically be absent for 6 weeks in any year in that period without it being a problem, but any duration longer than that and you'll need to subtract all the days you were absent from your residency calculations.

The application form asks (at least it did when I applied 4 years ago) if you were absent from the State for more than 6 weeks in any of the previous 5 years, and if you were you have to provide details of every absence from the State.

Your gap in 2020 will count against you for this, so you won't be able to apply until at least July 2025.

https://www.irishimmigration.ie/how-to- ... on/#adults

[nisi]

This is a screenshot of the relevant section from the old paper form: https://paste.pics/T2QCC