Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats)
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606. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if she will ensure that in-person appointments return to the immigration service delivery; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [50171/22]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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My Department's Registration Office in Burgh Quay is responsible for registering and renewing immigration permissions for customers residing in the Dublin area only. Registrations and renewals for persons resident outside of the Dublin area are processed by the Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB) through the Garda Station network. The allocation of appointments for registration and renewal with GNIB, for some 50 locations nationwide, is a matter for An Garda Síochána.

The Registration office in Burgh Quay operated during the Covid 19 pandemic in line with public health guidelines. However, since February 2022, the Registration Office has been open and operating at maximum capacity.

Any person registering for the first time is required to attend at their local registration office in person and, as part of my Department’s ongoing work to meet the demand for first-time registration appointments, on 10 January 2022, a Freephone service (1800 800 630) was introduced for customers.

The current operating hours are 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday and all appointments for Dublin based customers to register their immigration permission are now issued through this service. Operators offer one appointment per call, unless it is for an identifiable family group. So far this year, the Registration Office of my Department has issued and processed over 50,000 appointments.

Additionally, if a non-EEA national is residing in the Dublin area and has an existing valid permission to be in the State, then they do not need to seek an appointment to attend in person to renew their permission. An online renewal facility was launched in July 2020 to processes renewals and there has been 173,000 approx. registrations renewed online since the facility was launched.