Francis Noel Duffy (Dublin South West, Green Party)
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825. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the progress to date in the determination of an application for citizenship in the case of a person (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39672/21]

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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840. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade when the Foreign Births Registration Office will recommence the assessment of applications such as in the case of a person (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40196/21]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 825 and 840 together.

My Department is responsible for citizenship by descent through the Foreign Births Register. Prior to COVID-19 it took twelve to eighteen months to process applications. This was due to the complex nature of FBR applications and the very high volume of applications due to Brexit.

The applications referenced were received and are currently waiting to be processed. All documentation submitted is being stored in a secure environment.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Passport Service has had to prioritise the provision of emergency passport services, in full compliance with Government guidelines. The Passport Service commenced the scaling up of operations on 4 May 2021 in line with the phased easing of restrictions set out in “COVID-19 Resilience and Recovery 2021 – The Plan Ahead”.

The Passport Service will resume processing FBR applications as soon as possible. The Department is committed to allocating further resources to this service to assist with the high volume of applications when regular processing resumes with a focus on reducing turnaround times to pre COVID-19 levels by the end of 2021. In the meantime, in cases of exceptional urgency applicants may continue to contact the Passport Service directly.