Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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785. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the steps she is taking to address problems for first-time applicants for Irish residence permits in securing online appointments in Burgh Quay. [15063/22]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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When a non-EEA national enters the State and intends to stay for more than 90 days, they must register their immigration permission.

First time registrations outside of the Dublin area are processed by the Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB) through the Garda Station network. The allocation of appointments with GNIB is a matter for An Garda Síochána.

The Registration Office of my Department registers permissions for customers residing in the Dublin area.

Since the onset of the pandemic, immigration permissions have been extended nine times, which means that people who held a valid permission to be in the State in March 2020 are legally permitted to remain until 31 May 2022.

As a result of the unavoidable delays created from the closing of the Registration Office in Burgh Quay during Covid-19 restrictions, and the reduced capacity guidelines when open, a high number of customers are now coming forward to seek an appointment for first time registration. The Registration Office of my Department is currently operating at 100 per cent capacity.

As part of my Department’s ongoing work to meet the current unprecedented demand for first-time registration appointments, on 10 January 2022, a Freephone service (1800 741 741) was introduced for customers. It is currently operating 12 hours a day from Monday to Friday (8am to 8pm) and 8 hours a day on Saturday and Sunday (9am to 5pm). There are between 15 and 20 customer service representatives taking calls and making appointments. All appointments for Dublin based customers to register their immigration permission are now issued through this service, with operators offering one appointment per call, unless it is for an identifiable family group. Approximately 21,000 customer appointments have been allocated so far.

The Registration Office’s customer service team is also available to support customers who may have language difficulties or may need assistance with translation. A number of multi-lingual videos describing the registration process and what to expect are available on my Department's website www.irishimmigration.ie.

A new Immigration Service appointment and scheduling system is expected to be available to customers shortly, replacing the Freephone service and further streamlining and improving the registration process. The new arrangements will be communicated at the appropriate time.

Dublin based customers who are seeking to renew their permission can continue to do so online at inisonline.jahs.ie/user/login.