Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

625. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the status of a citizenship application by a person (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [22828/22]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Applications for naturalisation and general queries in respect of same are dealt with in chronological order by date received.

When applications for a certificate of naturalisation are received by the Citizenship Division of my Department, they are subject to an initial check/examination. Citizenship Division is currently completing initial checks on applications received in September 2021.

On completion of the initial checks, my Department will contact the applicant to assign them an application number and issue an acknowledgment to the address given at the time of making the application.

I am deeply conscious of how important the granting of naturalisation is to those who apply for it and my Department has continued to accept and process citizenship applications throughout the pandemic and during all levels of public health restrictions.

However, the combined impact of the 2019 High Court judgment in the Jones case, the necessary health restrictions arising from the pandemic, and my Department's response to the Ukraine crisis has resulted in the processing time for standard applications increasing.

My Department is taking a number of steps to speed up the processing of applications and a number of digitisation measures have also been introduced to increase efficiency in the process, including eTax clearance, eVetting and online payments. The end result of the digitisation process will be to free up more staff to focus on processing applications in a timely and efficient manner, to improve service to our customers and reduce waiting times.

In 2021, my Department issued 11,512 citizenship decisions, which is the highest number of decisions made since 2015, and reflects positively the significant changes undertaken to date.