Tony McLoughlin (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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142. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality if the delays in processing applications for join or accompany EU family member C visas by the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service are due to an ongoing Garda operation named Operation Vantage; if all new applicants will be affected by this operation; if, as disclosed at an immigration judicial review on 19 February 2016 in the High Court (details supplied), there is a backlog of 7,000 EU treaty rights visa applications waiting to be processed; her plans to tackle this issue; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10567/16]

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 there has been an exponential increase since the second quarter of 2015 in the number of visa applications from 'qualifying' and 'permitted' family members of EU citizens who wish to travel to Ireland under the terms of 2004/38/EC Directive on the rights of citizens of the Union and their family members to move and reside freely within the territory of Member States. This has given rise to a current caseload in the region of 8,000 or so applications.

While every effort is made to process these applications within a reasonable time frame, processing times generally will vary having regard to the volume of applications in each processing centre, their complexity and the resources available.

As proceedings in relation to a number of such applications are currently before the courts, the Deputy will appreciate that I am somewhat limited in what I can say on the matter. I can nevertheless say that these cases have to be assessed very carefully to ensure that any fraudulent applications or potential abuses of the EU Directive are detected and dealt with appropriately. This also impacts on processing times.