renew 4EUFAM card?

man i have no idea if this is the correct subforum for this.

anyway, my wife is living with me (EU citizen) in ireland since 2013. she has always been on a 4EUFAM card.

it had to be renewed in 2016, easy peasy, we got documents, show it there, and she gets a new card. and now it has to be renewed in january of 2019.

we went to the local garda station this week to renew it, a bit early, because we had time.

but this time, they are telling us to downlaod a new form from the inis website!? an EU1 form, a "Residence Card for a qualifying family member of
a European Union national"? which has a processing time of 10 months?!

is that necessary? we have to send this form to dublin, and upon receipt of a response we are to go back to the garda station to get the card.

however in january of 2019 my wife will be in ireland for 5+ years, so we will apply for citizenship.

cant we simply get the 4eufam card renewed? is this new eu1 card necessary?

nobody seems to know what to do - i write to INIS, and get a response telling me to submit en entirely different for, a EU3 form. "Application for a Permanent Residence Card for non-EEA national family member."

what the hell do we do?