Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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645. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of applications received under the European Communities (Free Movement of Persons) Regulations 2015 for a residence card on the basis of being a permitted family member, that is, a member of the household of a European Union citizen; and the number of such residence cards granted in each year. [4280/21]

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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646. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of applications received in each year under the European Communities (Free Movement of Persons) Regulations 2015 for a residence card on the basis of being a permitted family member, that is, a dependant of a European Union citizen; and the number of such residence cards granted in each year. [4281/21]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 645 and 646 together.

I wish to clarify that under the European Communities (Free Movement of Persons) Regulations 2015, permitted family members must apply for an assessment as a permitted family member of a Union citizen, whether as a member of the household of that Union citizen or as a dependant of the Union citizen and be deemed as a permitted family member before consideration is given to whether an applicant qualifies for a residence card.

The Immigration Service of my Department advises that the number of applications received or approved under the category, member of household or dependant of the Union citizen, is not readily available and would take significant resources to identify those applications. In addition, some applications may be made and assessed under more than one category, including de facto partner or under health grounds. However, to be of some assistance to the Deputy, the number of all first-instance applications for assessment as permitted family member of a Union citizen received and approved in each year since the Regulations came into operation on 1 February 2016 are set out in Table 1 below.

Table 1 – Permitted Family Member Assessment applications and approvals

*the number of applications for assessment approved in a given year bears no correlation to the number of applications received during that year.

I regret to inform the Deputy that the number of the above applications that were approved whereby the applicant was subsequently granted a residence card at first-instance is not readily available, as statistics are not maintained in a manner that would allow for this figure to be determined without a significant amount of staff resources and time being required.