Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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266. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the status of an application for a foreign birth registration (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [58341/21]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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My Department is responsible for citizenship by descent through the Foreign Births Register under the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956, as amended.

The processing of Foreign Birth Registration has resumed and will be gradually scaling up in line with the recruitment of additional resources. Due to the complex nature of the Foreign Birth Registration process and the pause in the Service due to necessary Covid-19 restrictions, applicants are being advised that they should allow approximately 2 years for processing of Foreign Birth Registration applications at this time.

The application referenced was registered on 4 February 2020, and is being stored in a secure environment.

Foreign Birth Registration staff continue to provide an emergency service for Foreign Birth Registration in cases of exceptional urgency, such as expectant parents, or stateless persons. Such applicants may contact the Passport Service directly.

My Department is fully committed to allocating additional resources over the coming period to assist with the processing of the high volume of new applications anticipated and the 32,000 Foreign Birth Registration applications currently on hand.