Emmet Stagg (Kildare North, Labour)
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Question 912: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform further to Parliamentary Question No. 473 of 11 March 2008, where he states that applications for long term residency received in August 2006 were currently being dealt with and Parliamentary Question No. 181 of 4 July 2007 where he stated that applications received for long term residency in June 2006 were currently being dealt with, the reason in eight months, the applications currently being dealt with only moved two months. [12140/08]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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The Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service receives a considerable and diverse range of applications for permission to remain in the State including applications for long term residency. As the Deputy will appreciate, the processing time for dealing with such applications can vary depending on the type of application involved and the particular circumstances of the individual concerned.

In all instances, processing arrangements are kept under ongoing review and steps are taken to ensure that applications are dealt with as quickly as possible having regard to overall resources across the full range of services provided by the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service. I understand that following the redeployment of resources within the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service, additional personnel have recently been assigned to deal with applications for long term residency. I am satisfied that these additional resources will make an impact in processing the backlog on hand and dealing with the ongoing increase in the number of applications being received.