Lisa Chambers (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I have never suggested that applications are being withheld by any particular organisation or individual. I am asking the Minister of State to investigate this because it appears that Reserve Defence Forces applications are taking much longer than anybody would expect. I have the response issued to me on 14 June 2016 by the Minister for Justice and Equality which outlines the number of applications received for the past three years. It shows clearly, in black and white, that 80% of applications are processed within four weeks. The Minister was very clear on that. I can give that to the Minister of State so that he does not need to double check it with the Minister, although he should feel free to do so. Will the Minister come back to me and tell me why those delays are happening? If they are not happening within the Department of Defence or within the Defence Forces but somewhere else, we need to identity from where the problem is originating so we can fix it. If we do not know what is causing the problem, it will persist.

From talking to individuals who have actually applied - people I know - I can tell the Minister of State that they are still waiting on responses to applications they submitted in November 2015. It is simply not good enough because those people are currently lost to the organisation. They will not come back to us again. They are very good young people who want to volunteer but we are not letting them volunteer because we are not processing their applications.

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