James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for the question on citizenship applications. I am pleased to provide an update to the House on the ongoing improvements being made to the processing of citizenship applications. Just last week, the Minister, Deputy McEntee, had the honour of attending a ceremony in Dublin Convention Centre, and on behalf of myself and the Minister I congratulate all of our newest citizens and their proud families.

Processing times are now decreasing year on year. This is a result of re-engineering and streamlining the process, the introduction of a very successful online digital application, as well as online payments and the introduction of e-vetting. My Department has increased its decision-making capacity, which has had the effect of increasing the number of grants of citizenship applications from 13,598 in 2022 to 18,279 applications in 2023.

I am happy to note that, in the first six months of this year, a total of 16,000 decisions were made. The median processing time for a decision on an application in 2023 was 15 months. This was down from 19 months in 2022. While a figure for this year is not yet available, based on current output and application levels, my Department expects that the median processing time will decrease again. In fact, my objective into next year is that the majority of people who submit their naturalisation applications on the basis of residency by means of the new online digital form will receive a decision within 12 months. I look forward to delivering on this objective and acknowledge the commitment and excellent work being done by the citizenship division of my Department to improve the service provided to applicants.

See this speech in context