Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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The granting of Irish citizenship through naturalisation under the provisions of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956, as amended, is a privilege and an honour which confers certain rights and entitlements, not only within the State but also at European Union as well as international level. It is therefore important that appropriate procedures are in place to ensure that the integrity of the regime for granting Irish citizenship through the naturalisation process is held in high regard both at home and internationally. These procedures are continually evolving arising from, for example, service improvements due to the introduction of new technology and updated work practices.

In general (and absent exceptional delaying events referred to below), it takes around 6 months for a standard application to be processed from the date it is received to the date a decision is made. However, the nature of the naturalisation process is such that, for a broad range of reasons, some cases can take longer than others to process. Additional security checks can result in some applications taking longer than this average timescale. Such checks are fundamental to maintaining the legitimacy of the naturalisation process both nationally and internationally.

In addition, processing timescales can be impacted due to incomplete applications having to be returned, further documentation being required from the applicant, or where payment of the required certificate fee is awaited, or the applicant has not been engaging with the Immigration Service of my Department. Sometimes the input of several government agencies, both within and outside this jurisdiction is needed and the request and receipt of information from these sources can result in delays in processing some applications. In other instances, issues can arise at the final stage of the naturalisation process, for example, where additional information comes to light which is required to be considered before a final decision is taken.

It should be noted that once an applicant has been approved, there are a number of further steps which must be completed before they can be scheduled for attendance at a citizenship ceremony, which can result in an additional delay.

Processing Times: Months from Date application received to Date of Decision 2016 - 2019

Year	Number of applications Decided	Average Processing Time - all decisions (Months)	Median Processing Time To Approval (Months)*	Median Processing Time to Refusal (Months)
2016	11,081	6	3	27
2017	9,190	7	6	23
2018	11,139	11	7	23
2019	9,319	12	10	19
2020	3,551	13	11	19

* Median processing time in 2016 is skewed by a large number of minor applications being decided.

The number of persons waiting more than six months for an application to be processed at the end of each of the years 2016 to 2019 was as set out in the following table.

Applications Decided by number of months from application to decision 2016 - 2019

Year	Less than 6 months	6 to less than 12 months	12 to less than 18 months	18 to less than 24 months	24 months+	Total
2016	8565	1289	275	259	684	11072
2017	3874	4033	469	245	527	9148
2018	3394	3740	2101	841	983	11059
2019	779	4142	2305	940	468	8634
2020	228	1556	916	266	290	3256

% breakdown

Year	Less than 6 months	6 to less than 12 months	12 to less than 18 months	18 to less than 24 months	24 months+
2016	77%	12%	2%	2%	6%
2017	42%	44%	5%	3%	6%
2018	31%	34%	19%	8%	9%
2019	9%	48%	27%	11%	5%
2020	7%	48%	28%	8%	9%

The number of persons waiting to have their applications processed at the end of each of the years 2016 to 2019 and the end of May 2020 are presented in the following table.

Applications open at Year end 2016 - 2019

Year End	Standard Adult	Spouse of Irish Citizen (S15a)	Refugee	Minor*	Total
2016	5,995	1,402	258	667	8,322
2017	7,483	2,044	439	1,030	10,996
2018	8,233	2,605	634	1,350	12,822
2019	12,703	3,959	1,116	2,167	19,945
2020 (Q1)	11,415	3,622	1,210	2,249	18,496

Minor includes applications under S28a of the Act.

As well as demands caused by increased checks and a larger number of applications, the process for citizenship has had a number of specific challenges in the last year which have led to delays. Firstly, on foot of a challenge taken in the High Court last year by an applicant who was refused a certificate of naturalisation due to their absences from the State during the last year prior to the date of their application, significant delays were caused to processing, as the naturalisation consideration had to be suspended pending the outcome of an appeal.

While it was subsequently possible to organise a naturalisation ceremony for thousands of applicants, the restrictions attendant to the current COVID-19 pandemic have regrettably resulted in significant challenges to the delivery of normal services. As a result of these restrictions, theCitizenship Division of the Immigration Service, along with many other public and private sector organisations is experiencing significant disruption in delivering its core functions. Working within these restrictions, public safety and the wellbeing of staff are of course both urgent priorities. As the Deputy may be aware, the next scheduled citizenship ceremony due to take place in the INEC in Killarney in July 2020 has unfortunately been postponed due to the current restrictions. I have instructed my officials to examine feasible mechanisms and processes whereby procedures such as citizenship ceremonies can take place while fully complying with the criteria outlined in the Government Roadmap for Reopening Society and Business. As the Deputy will appreciate, the number of applications on hand at a given point in time is impacted by ceremony schedules.