John Halligan (Waterford, Independent)

Yes, I am just coming to it. I accept that citizenship is a serious issue but having dealt with the local police force from where the person concerned has come, Interpol, if necessary, local communities and so on, I have often wondered why it took such a long time to process an application for citizenship. I wish to ask the Minister two questions which I do not believe he answered. Has the backlog of applications been dealt with? I accept the Minister's stance, that increasingly more people are coming into this country and submitting applications for citizenship. How many people have been employed to deal with the backlog and with the current number of applications?

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