Noel McCarthy (Cork East, Fine Gael)

I thank the Minister of State for his response. It is clear that the volume of applications has greatly increased over the last five years while processing times continue to fall year on year. This is very encouraging. The work of the Minister and his Department must be acknowledged in this regard. I appreciate that the Minister of State may not have the figures at hand. Does he have an indication of the likely number of applications in 2025? Is the number received in the first half of this year higher than the number received in 2024? If application numbers continue to rise, as the figures suggest, will the Minister give any consideration to further upgrading the citizenship application portal or appointing additional staff in the citizenship division?

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