Things were definitely more lax back in 2004. I (well, the company I worked for) was able to apply for PR at the same time as applying for Temporary. The TR was granted within a few weeks and the PR about 5 months later.
I came here 2002 with a PR visa stuck in my passport.
At the 2 year mark, I did the citizenship ceremony and have travelled back to Ireland 3 times as an Aussie.
A great story...
I was in the International arrivals line at Heathrow Airport in about 2006, I shouted something to my missus (Aussie) and 4 month old son, AKA the KOM Yoinker.... and this pure born and bred Belfast flight desk girl shouted at me in heaviest Belfast chainsaw twang "Scuse me sur, yerrr in the wrang lineee"
She looked at me with dagger eyes as if to say, fckn stupid Norn Irish, always letting the country down.
I reached in to my pocket, grabbed the bluey emblazoned with Skip and the Emu and held it up without saying a thing
Her fucking face dropped... "Sarry Sur" reluctantly blurbed out at nowhere near the volume that she originally 'politely' chastised me.
I was proud to be an Aussie