Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I again thank the Senator for raising this matter, which I have taken on behalf of the Minister, Deputy McEntee. I will provide his feedback to her. The Senator is right. Some other EU countries have seen merit in introducing a civic test. I am informed that officials in the Department of Justice continually review all immigration applications and legislation to ensure they remain fit for purpose. The citizenship division of the Department has seen a dramatic increase in the number of people applying for citizenship. The Department has gone from 10,000 or 12,000 applications per year in the years pre Covid, to more than 23,000 applications received last year. The Department has reacted to this growing number of applications by more than doubling the number of ceremonies held last year. That incurs logistical cost and resources. As the Senator is aware, ceremonies were held in the RDS in March, in Killarney in June and in the Convention Centre Dublin in October and December. There will be a number of similar ceremonies throughout the country this year.

As the Senator may be aware, the Department of Justice has recently moved the application process for citizenship online as part of the overall digitisation of immigration services. This has allowed the Department to increase the number of applications processed and reduce the time it takes to process each application, which is a really positive move.

Finally, I acknowledge that citizenship ceremonies are a brilliant occasion. The Department has extended an invitation to the Senator to attend one of the upcoming ceremonies. I hope he will be able to attend. I understand it will be in Dublin city centre and he would prefer if it was more localised, but I do hope he will be able to attend.