Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We have two places now. About 48% of people are going to Citywest, which is a significant proportion. It is families with children in particular going there. We have, therefore, two significant bases. Dublin is our capital city and perhaps easier to access for people than other parts of the country. As well as opening up the office in Citywest, however, we are also providing for interview hubs. These allow for additional space. We have also piloted several online interviews to be able to facilitate people who at different stages of the process do not have to come to Mount Street or anywhere else. This is going really well and we want to try to expand this approach.

Mount Street has had significant investment not just in the number of staff but also in the technology and the building itself in recent years. I believe we need to keep that up and we should not move away from it. Of course, over time, we should always be looking at other potential options and this is why the Citywest office was opened. There is also the matter of looking at technology and the hubs and if there is a need to open somewhere else. Obviously, we want to do everything we can to see the numbers of applications reduced. Certainly, the processing at Mount Street and Citywest, and the accelerated processing in particular, has seen a drop occur in the numbers of people coming from the countries concerned. The more we can speed up, the more we would like to see this impact the overall numbers.