Michael D Higgins (Galway West, Labour)
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Question 307: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs whether, with reference to the section of the quality customer service plan of his Department, entitled "improvements in visa services", which outlines the objective of reducing response time, this objective is being met; and if this average response time with regard to visa applications has been reduced; the average response time to visa applications and inquiries; and the average response times of these applications in each of the past five years. [4309/06]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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My Department is responsible for visa applications to our missions abroad. Since January 2006, visa applications made in Ireland are the responsibility of the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform. Visa applications received abroad, and subsequently referred to Dublin, are decided by the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform.

All of our missions abroad are committed to reducing the response times for visa applicants. In recent years, dedicated visa officers have been assigned to the embassies in Moscow, Beijing and New Delhi to facilitate the processing of applications speedily, and this is being further expanded. Delegated sanction authority to missions on applications has been extended and has helped to reduce response times. Further improvements, including a new visa IT system, AVATS, are at an advanced stage of planning. The AVATS system will permit detailed tracking of an individual application from the point of receipt until its completion.

Visas are issued in missions, including honorary consulates, all over the world. While statistics are not available on overall average response times, the Department is committed to trying to improve its service, including response times, to the public.