John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is not satisfactory for the Minister to say that in several weeks he will have more clarity on a timeline. That is simply not acceptable. There is a massive backlog of 31,000 applications to be processed. Before the pandemic, there was, understandably, a turnaround time of between 12 and 18 months. The website of the Department has not been updated. It still states that is the processing time but people are now being told it will take more than two years.

I refer to the implications this has for people. I know of cases involving people trying to register who are stuck in war zones and are unable to register the birth of a child. That has significant implications relating to citizenship and accessing other critical identification such as passports. There are probably questions to be asked in respect of the legality of the failure to process these registrations.

We need a specific timeframe. The onus is on the Minister. He has responsibility for this matter and he owes the House-----

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