Seán Haughey (Dublin Bay North, Fianna Fail)
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355. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if there are delays in finalising applications for foreign birth registrations; the status of a foreign-birth registration of a person (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28051/22]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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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, the large increase in applications received following the Brexit vote in the UK, and the pause in the Service due to necessary Covid-19 restrictions, applicants should allow approximately 2 years from the receipt of supporting documentation for processing of Foreign Birth Registration applications at this time. Due to Covid-19 restrictions, and the subsequent reassignment of Foreign Birth Registration staff to assist in the provision of essential passport services, the Foreign Birth Registration Service was paused for nearly 15 months across the 2020-2021 period.

The application referenced was registered on 1 April 2022 and is being stored in a secure environment. The Passport Service wrote to the applicant on 25 April 2022 with regard to his application.

The FBR service operates a transparent general policy of processing applications in order of receipt. FBR staff continue to provide an emergency service for Foreign Birth Registration in cases of exceptional urgency, such as expectant parents, or stateless persons.