James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy is correct in the statistics he provides. There were significant delays even pre-Covid. Covid has exacerbated the situation in a period when there was an intention to reduce the time for processing applications. However, processes are being put in place to ensure that we can meet the requirements that are set out both in the White Paper and our internal requirements to process these applications as quickly as possible. I made a visit last week to the IPO to see exactly how the processes were working in the real world, if you like, in those offices. I have taken a hands-on approach to ensure we can get those timelines down as quickly as possible.

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