Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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432. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will provide an update on a foreign birth register application by a person (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54288/22]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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My Department is responsible for processing Foreign Birth Registration (FBR) applications for people who are born abroad and claim Irish Citizenship through a grandparent born in Ireland or through a parent who has claimed citizenship also through FBR, Naturalisation or Post Nuptial Citizenship.

Demand for this service increased significantly as a result of the Brexit vote in the UK. In 2015, prior to Brexit, a total of 6,000 entries were made to the register. In 2019, a peak number of 19,000 entries were made to the Foreign Births Register.

The service was also impacted by necessary Covid-19 restrictions in 2020 and 2021 and the unprecedented demand for passports seen to date in 2022.

My Department has put in place a number of measures that will address the volume of FBR applications currently on hand with a view to significantly reducing the processing time for these citizenship applications by the end of this year.

With regard to these specific applications, both applications were registered on the October 2021 and will be processed in due course.

Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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433. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will provide an update on two foreign birth register applications (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54289/22]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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My Department is responsible for processing Foreign Birth Registration (FBR) applications for people who are born abroad and claim Irish Citizenship through a grandparent born in Ireland or through a parent who has claimed citizenship also through FBR, Naturalisation or Post Nuptial Citizenship.

Demand for this service increased significantly as a result of the Brexit vote in the UK. In 2015, prior to Brexit, a total of 6,000 entries were made to the register. In 2019, a peak number of 19,000 entries were made to the Foreign Births Register.

The service was also impacted by necessary Covid-19 restrictions in 2020 and 2021 and the unprecedented demand for passports seen to date in 2022.

My Department has put in place a number of measures that will address the volume of FBR applications currently on hand with a view to significantly reducing the processing time for these citizenship applications by the end of this year.

It is not FBR Unit’s policy to link applications that are received on different dates. The FBR service operates a transparent general policy of processing applications in order of receipt except in cases of exceptional urgency, such as expectant parents, or stateless persons.