Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Independent)
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83. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the steps she is taking to tackle long waiting queues regarding immigration queries; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [44715/14]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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I am advised by the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (INIS) of my Department that the Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB) provides registration functions for all Non-EEA persons who intend to reside in the State for longer than 90 days. These functions are provided from the Burgh Quay offices in respect of the Dublin Metropolitan Region. The offices also provides a range of other immigration related services with in the region of 130,000 people per annum attending in person at the office. These include applications for re-entry visas which are issued to visa-required nationals resident in Ireland to ensure they can return following a trip to their home country or a third country. There is no requirement to attend in person to apply for such a visa and a postal service and a drop-box service are provided.

The nature of the services provided is such that it is demand led and accordingly, there are peaks and valleys in the numbers of callers at different times of the year. For the purpose of the efficient processing of the registration of up to five-hundred people who attend at this registration office every day, GNIB personnel who are employed there operate a shift system, which ensures it is open from 8am to 9pm each Monday to Thursday and 8am to 6pm each Friday (excluding bank holidays) and remains open through lunchtime. A numbered ticket issuing system is operated at this registration office, to ensure that those attending are dealt with on a ‘first come first served’ basis. In addition those attending are advised of the approximate time that they will be dealt with, which allows them to leave the office and return later in the day, if they so wish. A GNIB officer is also deployed to meet with each person on arrival at the office to ensure that they are in possession of all of the necessary documentation required for registration, so that unnecessary delays are avoided. Specific times are set aside for certain categories of persons such as students. In addition, to deal with the recent high level of demand for services the office opened on two recent Saturdays: 4 October and 11 October 2014.

In common with the operation of immigration functions in other States, immigrants seeking to register are required to present in person at my offices. This is necessary for establishment of identity and as an anti-fraud measure and is the practice of immigration services worldwide. For the majority of customers the Garda National Immigration Bureau provides a 'same day service' at its Burgh Quay office.

My Department’s customer service charter encompasses INIS and the organisation is continually seeking to improve the quality of services provided to customers. A major overhaul of the public reception facilities in Burgh Quay with vastly improved public areas was completed last year. In addition, the immigration service is planning to introduce an on-line booking system for appointments as part of a wider plan to transfer the registration function from the Garda National Immigration Bureau to INIS. The aim of the booking system is to give certainty to customers that they will be dealt with within a stated time window and at the same time enabling the immigration service to match its staff resources to meet demand at any particular time. The new reception facilities have been designed to cater for such a system.

Finally, I might add that this office is probably one of the busiest Public Offices with some of the longest opening times in the State. As I indicated earlier, around 130,000 persons attend the Burgh Quay office each year, which I am sure the Deputy will appreciate presents ongoing logistical challenges. I am anxious that queuing be reduced to the absolute minimum at the earliest possible opportunity and consistent with the requirement to protect our immigration system from abuses. I am confident that the measures outlined above will further improve the services provided to customers calling to this office.