Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)
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Question 544: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if he will add to the staffing levels dealing with applications for naturalisation in his Department where the waiting list is approximately 12,400 and applications dating from the beginning of 2005 are only now being processed; the number of staff dealing with these applications; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23980/07]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I am advised by the Citizenship Section of my Department that the number of applications for naturalisation which have yet to be processed to a conclusion is approximately 17,000. The processing time is, on average, 30 months and this is primarily due to the significant increase in the volume of applications received in the last number of years. The table shows the total number of applications received in the years 2000 to date. These figures illustrate a significant upward trend and with almost 6,000 applications received to date in 2007, this upward trend looks set to continue for the foreseeable future.

There are 46 staff currently assigned to the Citizenship Section of my Department. The numbers of staff assigned to the Section are kept under regular review having regard to the overall workload of the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service.